Infliction
by The Straight Elf
Summary: Harry was abandoned at Cole's Orphanage at the age of five. Harry was retrieved from it by a dark pair at age eight. Harry killed his first auror at age twelve. Harry rose to dominance at age fifteen. The story of Harry Potter's rise and fall. Remorseless!Harry.
1. Chapter One: Beginning

A/N: Thank you for reading Infliction, and I hope you enjoy the story. All you really need to know is that Voldemort is still in spirit form and won't have a real spot in this. Also, the better parts of the story start next chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Harry Potter glared at the matron of Cole's Orphanage. He'd had to deal with the oppressive woman ever since his sorry excuse for relatives had dumped him here for being a "freak".

How wrong they were, Harry thought.

Right now, he was truly wondering whether or not it was worth getting revenge on John Miller. Even though the boy had been an obnoxious bully the second Harry had arrived, getting a tongue lashing from the matron more than made up for it. It's not like they could prove that the green eyed boy had done anything. He hadn't so much as touched the older boy.

Around his seventh birthday, about two years after he had been left at this godforsaken place, Harry had been attacked by Miller and several of his lackeys. By the time they were finishing, it had felt like some sort of mental barrier had snapped inside of him. When they were beginning to take things too far, Harry began to _want_ them to feel pain.

One of the teenagers found each of the boys writhing in pain around little Harry, who had a myriad of cuts and bruises. Although there was no physical harm to the boys, each had taken extra steps to keep on Harry's good side. Except for John Miller, of course. The idiot didn't seem to notice that whenever he annoyed the small boy bad things happened to him.

This time it was a snapped arm. And the Matron, who had grown somewhat used to the injuries that always seemed to happen to Miller, immediately suspected Harry.

She was right of course, but, since she had no evidence, he wasn't about to tell the truth. Not that he actually knew how he did it, except that he had to _want_ something very badly. Normally it was merely for the other orphans to feel pain or to leave him alone, but he'd noticed that weird things happened whenever he got mad.

As much as he wished he could force the Matron to leave him alone, he had a feeling that the Matron rolling around in pain would attract a bit of attention. Attention that he certainly didn't need. So for now, he just retreated into his thoughts as the old woman interrogated him.

"Tell me, Mr. Potter, how did Mr. Miller's arm get broken?"

Harry responded in his normal way. Adopting as innocent a façade as he could, and softening his normally hard green eyes, he replied.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but I don't know how John's arm got broken. Maybe you should ask him," he said, pointing at a smug looking John, "he's the one with the broken arm, after all."

The Matron pursed her lips and sighed, suddenly looking much older than before. Waving her arm towards the orphanage's garden, she spoke to him.

"Mr. Potter, please just do…something." Harry began to smile inwardly at being let off. "We will speak more on this later, however."

Harry silently cursed, but nevertheless left outside. Maybe Apep would be outside today. The eight year old smiled at the thought of his only friend. Apep, a small garden snake, was his only friend. To be honest, Harry had no interest in making human friends. He merely had no interest in doing so.

From his experience, humans always wanted something. He would rather have no friends and respect and fear instead of fools attempting to befriend him for protection. Apep, however, was different. He had no need of anything Harry had, thus there was no fear that the serpent would try to manipulate him.

Whistling softly, he walked out into the garden. It was a large place, and had more weeds than actual plants, but it was the only place the boy could find privacy. And privacy was something Harry valued highly.

Slowly, he turned around, making sure no one was hiding. It was an accepted fact at the orphanage that he was different, but no one needed to see him speaking to a snake. Although the orphanage might be hell, an asylum would be far, far worse.

After another quick scan of the garden, Harry began to search for his friend. He poked around in the tall weeds, and overturned several rocks. Still nothing.

Finally, after twenty minutes of methodically searching the garden, Harry gave up. He decided that he would have to call his friend. Although he didn't like having to call Apep, since the snake generally liked to test his cunning by forcing the boy to find him, sometimes it was necessary. Harry cursed the snake; sometimes Apep was too good at hiding.

"_Come here, Apep_," Harry hissed, "_You've won the game. Now come out!_"

Harry called for his friend several more times, growing slightly worried. He'd never known for Apep to leave the garden, and the serpent would always come when asked.

The boy shrugged before going back inside. Maybe he was just out hunting.

When Harry walked into the dark hallway that led to his room, he froze. Outside of his door, several large figures were waiting. He groaned, they looked to be some of John's lackeys, and would definitely try to get revenge on him. Even though Harry always seemed to get out of trouble relatively unscathed, he didn't want to risk the Matron finding out about multiple "incidents" in a single day. He was skating on thin ice right now, and he knew it.

Harry decided to wait for a few minutes before trying to get to his room. If they didn't leave, he might as well deal them their punishment sooner rather than later.

The boy decided to walk around the orphanage some more. He was always able to hear Apep inside even the noisiest of rooms, so it might help. If he didn't hear his beloved serpent anywhere he could simply return to his room.

Harry sighed in disappointment as he walked through the orphanage. He had walked through every single damned room in this moldering, decrepit, building and he'd not heard a single peep out of Apep. When he found the serpent, he would lock him in a cage for making him so worried. The snake would probably end up amused though…

_Damn it_, thought Harry.

He shrugged. Apep would make his way to him eventually. Sometimes all that was required for a task was patience, after all. After so many years in the brutal orphanage, patience was something Harry possessed in abundance. Revenge wasn't a hasty matter, after all.

Harry walked back to his room, smirking as the other children scampered in front of him. Being feared was quite useful, if he said so himself. Kept the idiots away from him, at least.

Finally, Harry grew bored. If the fools were still skulking around his door, he would simply have to teach them their place. He did have an active imagination, and he made sure to put it to good use. That was why he loved his "freakishness" so much; it gave him ways to exercise his will that he never would have been able to do otherwise. The children that were terrified him only existed as a bonus.

He sneered- a terrible expression on such a young face- as he stepped into the hallway. The idiots were still there, despite everything he had done to them in the past.

Then a delighted smirk crossed his face. This was the perfect chance to try some new ideas!

He snuck up behind them and coughed. Harry snickered as two of them fell down, while the other jumped a foot in the air.

"So, what brings you idiots here today? Surely my door isn't the best place for you fools to hang out at, is it?"

The one who had jumped- who seemed to be substituting as the leader in John's absence- sneered at him. He was noticeably muscular, which had to be the reason he was the leader. Harry highly doubted that any of them had more than several brain cells anyways.

"Just go in the room, freak. John told us to leave a present for ya."

Harry began to be concerned. Any sentence that had the name John in it would be trouble for him. The concern heightened when the louts started sniggering stupidly. He didn't particularly care about whatever present the fools had left him. It would most likely be a dead rat or something like that, and those had stopped having an effect on him long ago. Having a snake companion would do that to you.

What concerned him was that the fools were so excited. He had been surprised to learn that they could even have an emotion that complex, and to see them so gleeful was worrying. In the end, he simply shrugged and walked in, keeping a careful eye on the three eleven-year olds. Harry wouldn't put it past them to try and attack him while his back was turned. If they were able to understand excitement, than they might have evolved from complete idiots to having a sort of simple animal cunning.

Luckily, none of them tried to attack him. The boy continued to be wary as he walked into his bare room. If they had managed to get in, they might have another one of the idiots waiting to attack them.

Harry flipped the light switch. For a moment he merely looked over his room, not seeing anything until his emerald eyes landed upon the bed. He stared; for once not understanding something instantly.

Then he screamed in rage. With the image of his beloved serpent lying on the bed, torn in half burned into his young mind, he tore out of the room intent upon utterly _destroying_ the fools.

_They will suffer_, he vowed to his rage clouded mind.

As he rushed into the hall, he saw the three bastards running away from him, laughing loudly. One turned back and yelled, "How did you like your present, freak? Is wittle Hawwykins gonna cry?"

Harry, burning in anger, didn't even notice as he _wanted_ them to come back to him. He did notice when they came flying back with terrified yelps, and he did notice when he remembered his earlier promise. A sadistic grin was on his young face as he watched the three writhing on the floor in pain.

He allowed them to suffer for several minutes before letting them free. Harry smirked as he saw each of their tear-streaked faces. Although he would get his proper revenge later, and truly show them why you never messed with Harry Potter, now was a time for him to mourn his only friend. After giving the bastards one last contemptuous glance, he went into his room.

The Matron found the boys outside of Harry Potter's room one hour later, still whimpering in pain and terror. Horrified, she continued into the boy's room. What she found disturbed her almost as much as the broken boys outside did.

Harry Potter was sitting on his old bed, silently staring at a small black snake. She noticed that the snake had been ripped in half, and its blood covered Harry's plain sheets. What disturbed her most was that tear stains were on the boy's cheeks and clothes. Harry Potter had never cried; he had been nearly silent when he first arrived, despite the obvious neglect he had gone through. When he was hurt by the other children he merely glared at them.

The old Matron shivered as she was reminded of another case from her youth. A boy who had even looked similar to Harry, never got into trouble, was feared at a young age, and who also exhibited strange abilities.

Tom Riddle. The boy who had terrorized her as he grew older, and who left the moment he could, to never be heard from again. She could only hope that this child, who had become the bane of her existence in recent years wouldn't end up the same.

Clearing her throat, the Matron hesitantly called out for him to come with her. Surprisingly enough, he complied. That was more than enough for the Matron to tell that the boy was very upset. She shivered as she remembered the boys outside.

_This time_, she thought, _she had to get him out of Cole's Orphanage. _

Xx

_Well_, thought Harry, _this isn't good_.

After being found by the Matron, he'd been taken immediately to her office. He knew that he would likely get sent to a new orphanage, or even St. Brutus', if he was really unlucky. Although the damned old woman still couldn't prove he'd done anything to the idiots, she didn't seem to be letting that stop her. It seemed that he'd finally gone too far in his punishments.

Not that he regretted it, of course. They deserved it for what they did to Apep. Harry wished he'd kept himself from doing whatever he did to the bullies; it was a terribly rash thing to do. He should have mourned quietly for his friend, buried him, and then plotted a suitable revenge. Instead, he had caused them a lot of short-term pain, but nothing that wouldn't disappear in a few days. Harry began thinking of any schemes that would work before he was thrown out of the bloody orphanage.

Harry was yanked out of his mutterings by the Matron, who had decided to start off with her yelling. Although he was sure that the ancient woman had plenty of lovely things to say about him, he managed to tune her out. He might start listening when she told him where he would be going.

That was before she pulled out a meter-stick and smacked his hands, which had been tapping the sides of his chair idly. After letting out a short hiss of pain, and giving the old woman a baleful glare, he decided to pay attention. No matter what weird abilities he had, he needed to remember that she had a very painful wooden instrument at her disposal.

"Harry Potter! You will listen to me when I'm talking! From the day you arrived here, you've been nothing but trouble. Half the children are terrified of what you might do to them, and the other half already know. I don't know what you do to the poor dears, and I don't want to. What you need to know is that I have had enough of you." At that she stared coldly at him. Even Harry had to shiver at that stare. The Matron was known for having spent sixty years at the orphanage, and was normally a kind, if stern, woman. That she was being so hostile spelled very bad things for Harry, even if she couldn't prove a thing.

The Matron's kindness was probably the only reason why Harry had remained here for so long. Most orphanages would have thrown him out after the first few incidents, after all. That he had remained at Cole's for so long was a miracle in itself. But now, it seemed that the boy's luck had run out.

"As of today, papers are being filed with St. Brutus' Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys in your name. By next week, you will be transferred there. I truly am sorry it has come to this, Harry."

Harry was slightly saddened, if not surprised. His real regret would be that he would have to inspire new fear into the boys at his new home. He had no intention of being terrorized.

He supposed he would miss this place, even if he hated it. It had been more of a home to him than the Dursleys had ever been. Another problem was that he only had a week to exact revenge.

Harry would make those bastards pay. If he was already being transferred away from Cole's, there was no point in being subtle. He'd already gone too far, a little more couldn't hurt him anymore.

It was with these thoughts that he gave a sad nod at the Matron before leaving the tiny, cramped office. While Harry was leaving, he heard a massive blasting sound coming from the entrance of the orphanage. He froze, and slightly frightened, he turned back to the Matron. Her eyes were slightly cold as they stared at him.

"Harry, did you have anything to do with this," said the ancient woman in a frighteningly calm voice.

"No ma'am," Harry said confusedly, "but should we go down?"

The Matron shook her head at the situation before answering in an affirmative. Harry followed curiously, wanting to see what could have possibly caused that noise. Normally it was him causing chaos, and he thought it would be interesting to see other people's ideas.

What he saw in the entrance hall more than shocked him. Harry heard the Matron let out a small gasp. For the first time in a while, the green-eyed boy was inclined to agree with her.

The entrance hall was a complete wreck; it looked like someone had set off a bomb inside of it. The two doors were blown off their hinges and were lying inside the middle of the hall. If that weren't surprising enough, there were oddly dressed people with masks on standing there, scanning their surroundings. Harry had to repress a snort as he saw them. Two of the trio were plainly men, and were for some reason wearing dresses. All of them, however were waving sticks around.

Amused by their antics, Harry listened in as the Matron was frozen in shock and fear. Personally, Harry didn't see what was so frightening about them. For one thing, they wore dresses. The only thing he personally found disturbing about them was their obvious insanity. Harry focused on the tallest one, who appeared to be a well-built man.

"Where is that damned boy?" The man hissed, "When we find the Master, he will reward us beyond measure for his greatest enemy!"

The second man, who looked and sounded very similar to the first, chastised the first man in a raspy voice.

"Don't be impatient, Rodolphus. We must not allow the boy to escape through carelessness on our part. For our Master to be whole again, we must have the boy first."

Harry winced as the last of the intruders spoke in an arrogant tone that seemed accustomed to being obeyed. The boy noticed a slight sense of insanity to it as well.

"We'll find the boy soon enough, dear husband. Then ickle baby Potter will be ours!" Harry shuddered a bit at the similarity to the bastards that killed Apep. He was beginning to creep away when the Matron let out a pitiful sounding whimper.

_Damn it_, thought the boy as the intruders twirled around to see the cause of the noise. If Harry could see past those bloody masks, he was sure that he would see delighted grins. The woman rushed forward while cackling madly.

"We found baby Potter! With a free toy as well!"

The second man, who Harry didn't know the name of, intervened.

"Bella, we don't have time for this. Grab the boy and let's leave. The Master is waiting." Harry glared silently at man as he aimed his stick at him. When a stream of red sparks erupted from the stick, Harry nimbly dodged once he got past his shock. For some reason, he didn't feel like getting hit by sparks. Particularly not when they came from a stick being waved around.

Silently, and ignoring the first man and woman, he willed the other man to hurt. He didn't want to be taken by madmen, particularly when he still had a week to exact his revenge. Maybe if he made the man hurt he would leave him alone.

He wasn't expecting for his power not to do anything. Harry narrowed his eyes anxiously at the man, confused.

A sense of desperation overcame him when the man sent another stream of sparks flying at him. Barely moving away in time, he looked at the man, who seemed to be getting agitated. When the man angrily said some strange word, cwucia or something, and an angry looking beam of scarlet light flashed at him, Harry knew he needed his power to work.

Focusing all his power and hatred towards the man, the boy was rather relieved when the man fell to the ground, writhing in utter agony. Harry couldn't help the sick smile that came over his face.

It was only there for a second before the scarlet light hit. Harry had always thought he could suffer any sort of pain after the constant fights in the orphanage. He had had black eyes, broken bones and plenty of other injuries, but nothing could ever have prepared him for this utter agony. It felt like every single injury that had ever felt was being redone to him over and over again, never getting a chance to rest. His blood felt like someone had filled it with molten lead, and he could feel his limbs spasm, slamming into the hard concrete floor.

He just _wanted_ it to be over; he _wanted_ his strange power to completely annihilate the man who did this to him. Harry continued to be in the hell for what felt like eternity, even though he knew it was only a few seconds. His only relief was the second screams of pain that erupted in tandem with his own. Finally, the man who put him into this hell released one final, bloodcurdling scream before going quiet.

Harry realized that he had tears running down his face as the agony suddenly ended. He was now aware that he was lying face down on the floor, which was covered with blood. All Harry could hope was that it wasn't his blood.

He tried to move, but the painful spasms that erupted in his muscles instantly stopped that. Instead, he listened to the first man and the woman, who were whispering hurriedly somewhere nearby. Although he couldn't understand some of the words, he could still hear them, albeit with difficulty.

"-The Master needs to be told of this, Bella. Who knows what he could do with the so-called Boy-Who-Lived at his side! The sheep will be demoralized if they see that their savior has aligned himself with the Dark!"

"The Master doesn't need the pathetic boy to be powerful! How dare you suggest that a filthy half-blood could be useful to our Master when he has pureblooded witches and wizards at his service!"

Harry, despite his fear and confusion, grinned a little at the exasperation in the man's voice when he addressed the woman. He instantly regretted it when pain erupted in his face.

"Bella, the boy can somehow cast a wandless crucio at the age of eight. I don't know if he's just the meanest little ball of hatred we've ever seen or just powerful, but the Dark Lord could use him."

"Bella", as the man called her, seemed outraged.

"Dear husband," Bella stated coldly, her former insanity seemingly gone, "have you forgotten that the filthy little half-blood just killed your brother? Surely we should kill him as soon as possible!"

The man responded in a similarly frosty tone, "Bella, Rabastan was an idiot. He tried to crucio Potter, even when I had specifically stated otherwise. None of us have any idea whether the Dark Lord will need Potter relatively unharmed- or sane."

Harry heard an annoyed snarl from Bella before he began to stop listening to their conversation. To be frank, he had no idea what in the hell they were talking about, so listening to them was useless. Maybe they were in a…what had the Matron once talked about, a cult? If so, he wasn't quite sure what the hell they wanted him for.

Finally, Harry tried to get up again. Although his frail limbs still quivered and twitched, he managed to get his head enough to look around. The first thing he saw a strange black shape that was releasing small tendrils of smoke. When Harry began to examine it as best he could, he was completely dumbfounded. The bloody thing didn't look like anything he'd ever seen.

After a few more moments of staring, he began to decipher minute details, and realized that a horrible odor was emanating from the shape. Finally, he realized what it was. That…thing used to be the man that had hit him with the light. His mind was in a complete panic, he'd never meant to kill the man, only hurt him!

A vile nauseous feeling began to flow through him as he realized that he had killed. To Harry's scrambled, horrified mind he had completely forgotten that the man was hurting him. All that it could decipher was that he had ended a life.

That was when the nausea began to worsen, and Harry could tell that he was about to vomit. He tried to hold it in, to keep the attention from the two people away from him, but he failed.

The couple, who were still bickering about some 'Dark Lord', immediately snapped their focus to Harry when he began to cough. When he finally lost the battle and threw-up, he could tell that they were feeling a combination of amusement and disgust. Bella bounced up beside him and said in a baby-like voice, "Does wittle Potty have a weak stomach?"

Harry managed to turn his head around enough to look at her. Her mask was staring down at him, and he could see her stick aimed at his small frame. A small glimmer of fear rose through his self-disgust and shock as a sphere of red light began to form at the tip of the stick. Harry turned his head back down to the floor as the light began to grow stronger. He didn't want to see what was coming, especially if it was as bad as the last red light.

"Don't worry, baby Potty," Bella crooned, "it's faster and easier than falling asleep!"

The last thing Harry heard before he fell into a black void was the hissing of sparks.

XxXx

(NOTE: READ THIS BEFORE YOU READ THIS PART – Skip down to the end of this part if you have a weak tolerance of disturbing images and gore. My apologies if you missed this.)

Harry let out a weak groan as he burst into consciousness. For a moment, he was wondering why he was tightly bound with ropes and had a terrible headache. Then, his memories rushed back to him. He remembered the bat-shit insane woman, the man, and how he…no, he didn't want to think on that. The mere memory of that blackened husk of flesh made him want to vomit. The smell wasn't helping him either, it smelled like someone had locked a thousand rats down here and left them to rot.

He focused his mind on more important things…like how he was supposed to get out of here. The eight year old remembered classes that the Matron had made every orphan attend that told about how you could escape from kidnappers. One way to escape ropes came back to him. A grin lit up the child's face as he tensed his scrawny body, trying to loosen the ropes.

Unfortunately, Harry's plan didn't work. When he relaxed, the ropes seemed to dig in harder than before. They also seemed to be slowly rubbing his wrists, and the boy could already feel the spots where his skin would be rubbed raw.

Dully, Harry decided to wait for his captors to come pick him up. If they could use even more powers than he could, then he had no hope of escaping. For now, it seemed that all he could do was wait for the man and woman.

After what felt like an eternity to the young boy, he grew tired of faking sleep and looked around. Although he wasn't surprised, he was disappointed when he could see nothing but inky blackness.

Harry decided to try and use his powers to burn off the ropes. He focused on all of his terror, his pain, his rage. He focused it on the ropes, envisioned his binds being burned away in silver flame.

A small smile drifted across his small face as he sees a bright silver flame devour the ropes. He marveled at the fact that the flame gave off no heat before he tried to move. Harry instantly regretted that decision, as he felt incredible pain from the lack of blood in his limbs.

The boy stayed still for a few minutes, blinking back tears from the unexpected pain. When he thought he was ready, he stood up. A feeling of smugness rises up within him as he stands up and brushes some of the dirt off of his face. Harry looked around and could see nothing. Deciding to try the same tactic as last time, he focused on his strongest emotions.

Fear. Pain. Rage. The small boy pulled them together and focused them, thinking about a glowing ball of light. He grinned in victory as an eerie red ball of light materialized in his right hand.

Harry's grin faded as he looked around the room in horror. The light illuminated the room, which looked like something from his nightmares, or one of the scary movies he watched on occasion. Blood was smeared liberally over the floor, glistening and slowly spreading. Corpses were hung throughout the room, some little more than skeletons with scraps of flesh on their bones, while others still had their faces in contortions of agony, wide mouths open in silent screams.

The boy was frozen in horror as he saw the remnants of other prisoners, but one fresh corpse made his blood freeze. A loud sob of horror escaped him as he saw the body of a little girl, no more than four, impaled upon a long, barbed metal spike. Her innocent face was permanently frozen in pain, a disgusting parody of a grin on the face. The barbed tip of the iron spike was coming out of her dislodged eyeball, which was loosely hanging onto her face by a thin strand of bloody muscle.

All desire to escape, all desire to keep his ball of light with him, it all died at that moment. He could see nothing except the sweet face of a young girl, who was exposed to brutality a thousand times beyond anything he would ever do. The boy felt relief as the light died down, although it was quickly replaced with him vomiting.

Harry had no idea how long he stayed down in the room with the corpses. In the darkness, time never mattered. All that mattered was that he knew what was in that darkness. Every minute, the stench of death and decay grew stronger, the visual image of rancid, rotting flesh growing more ingrained into his young mind.

He never noticed the growing hunger that gnawed on his stomach, or the burning thirst. Harry's youthful mind only knew that he was within a tomb of death, an image from the pits of hell. He could see the gaping eye sockets every time he closed his eyes, the wide mouths open in never ending screams. Harry could see the blood that was slowly dripping from the skinned and gutted corpses, the puddles of the foul liquid growing larger and larger until it would touch him.

Harry remembered his screaming though. He remembered yelling out for the Matron, his dead parents, even the damned relatives that had left him at the orphanage. He even yelled for Bella, pleading with her to release him from this hell.

Finally, he simply let himself go. Any remaining grasp on sanity was lost in the images of death and decay, leaving him a gibbering wreck that was huddled on the cold floor.

After an eternity in the hellhole, he saw light. Not strong light, nor the glowing red light he had conjured that first day. It was weak light, but it was light! Light that chased away the darkness, light that brought him back.

He kept his eyes closed. He never wanted to see the room again. Instead, he screamed. It was a loud, piteous wail that conveyed all of his loss, all his horror, and whatever was left of his fear-shrouded mind.

He remembered an outraged yell. He remembered someone grabbing him, carrying him. He remembered being placed in a soft bed.

He wanted to open his eyes, but he was too afraid that he would see the room again. Most of all, he was afraid he would see her again.

He continued to scream until he couldn't scream any more. He moaned when he couldn't scream anymore.

He remembered tiny snippets of conversations. He couldn't understand them, just knew that he should remember them.

"Damn it, Bella! What in the name of Merlin did you do to the child? He's practically catatonic!" He liked that voice; it reminded him of safety even though he knew it wasn't friendly.

"Don't worry, dear husband. He's fine! I just wanted to play a game with ickle Hawwikins." He shuddered when he heard that voice, it reminded him of danger and cruelty, of madness and rage.

"Bella, do you know what we're going to have to do to repair this? The Dark Lord will skin us alive when we find him, Harry Potter is his, and his alone. For Merlin's sake, we'll probably have to obliviate him, erase whatever you did permanently."

Here the female voice came back, mocking and cruel. "I didn't do anything, dear husband. It's all in his wittle baby head! The _animi cruciatus_ does such wonderful work, does it not?"

"You used that spell on him! I doubt even an obliviation will heal him! Do you know how difficult it will be to replace all of his memories from when we took him from the orphanage, how difficult it will be to ensure that he is damaged in no way?"

He heard another response from the woman, which seemed to enrage the man.

"Bella, what are we going to do? If this fails, the Dark Lord will do much worse than a cruciatus, he will completely destroy our minds. I am sure that he will not be pleased that we took his prize from him, even if we find him in ten years! Who knows what this mental damage will do to his magic? For all we know, he'll just can it all up and then release it! Did you see his potential, how much raw power the boy possesses?"

The woman said something else, and it seemed the man finally lost it. From behind his eyelids, he could see the flash of scarlet light, followed by the psychotic giggles of the woman. A long suffering sigh came from the man. He saw another scarlet flash before everything went black.

When he awoke, he was still lying in the soft bed. He heard the man talking to him, "…open your eyes, boy. We need to start."

When he didn't do anything but shut his eyes tighter, the man gave an exasperated snort and said, "Damn it_, imperio_!"

He felt warm and happy for a moment, and opened his eyes. Harry saw an elegant looking room, and noticed that Bella was tied down next to him. The man was standing in front of them, carrying a stick.

The man pointed it at him, and said a funny word.

Rodolphus carefully dove into the boy's mind, trying to find the memories of whatever that damned _animi cruciatus_ showed the boy. He wasn't sure why Bellatrix felt the urge to use that spell against the boy, but it was causing plenty of problems for him right now.

He groaned at what he found, and carefully went about obliviating the scene, and the very fact that it had ever happened to him, from the boy's mind. Now the boy would simply remember using the light he'd created in order to see an ordinary, empty room. He would then remember nothing but waiting for them to retrieve him, then waking up in his bed.

It was quite a bit more difficult using legilimency on Bellatrix, since her occlumency ability was still quite formidable even when she was sedated and stated. He eventually slipped into her mind, and began to rearrange and obliviate memories.

He tried to tweak her memories enough to where she would lose her contempt for the boy, and no longer take pleasure in torturing him. It was far more complicated than what he had done with the boy, and he wasn't sure whether it would work.

Hopefully, however, she would lose her edge when it came to the boy, and not take quite as much glee in throwing spells like the animi cruciatus at the boy.

With a flick of his wand, Bellatrix was released from the stunner he'd sent at her, although the sedative he'd given her put her back down.

XxXxXx

Harry brushed the hair out of his eyes and glared at his attacker, and forced the rage up from inside him. As the emotion welled up inside of him, he thrust his hand towards his opponent. Several bursts of white sparks flew out of his palm, followed by a tiny stream of flame.

A grimace adorned the child's face, and he had no time to dodge as a streak of purple light slammed into his stomach, sending him sprawling onto his back. Harry groaned at the impact, but wasted no time feeling self-pity. He jerked up, narrowly avoiding another streak of purple light. The light made contact with the worn wooden floor next to him, which now had cracks threading throughout it.

The boy managed to get on his feet, and quickly thought of his worst memories, everything he could possibly use to inspire his magic. It succeeded, and he could feel the power drumming beneath his skin, demanding to be released. Through his fear and rage, he managed to direct it at his opponent.

This time, much more than just sparks were conjured. Blood red flames, streaked with black, burst from his hands. The pain from the raw power being channeled began to break through the rush of emotions he was feeling, which took robbed the fire of its power. It stayed for a few more moments, sliding around his opponent's shield, but soon grew weaker. Within a minute the flames had fizzled out.

Harry was exhausted, and fell onto his knees. Burning pain was erupting in his hands, and he managed to look down at them even as blackness began to encroach upon the edges of his vision.

His hands, once pale skin, marred only be a few small scars, didn't even resemble hands anymore. The skin was black and twisted, and he could not move them. They were gnarled, and the remnants of his hands were curled together as if they were trying to claw at something.

Harry only felt fear before the blackness filled his vision.

When he awoke, it was to an extremely soft bed. His eyes felt as though they were sealed shut, and he decided to simply remain as he was. It wasn't often that he managed to get a break in the strict regime Bella and Rodolphus set for him.

It was only when Harry heard soft whispers around him that he attempted to get up. He was confused when he couldn't feel his hands, and opened his eyes. At first, the sudden rush of light blinded him. As his eyes began to adjust, he realized that there were two familiar figures standing in the room. The closest was slight and feminine, and was looking down at him with some semblance of concern. The other was tall and well-built, and merely looked at him with scrutinizing eyes.

As his head cleared, and he began to see more details, the memories of what happened flashed through his head. His eyes widened in fear as he looked down at his hands, afraid that he might not even have them.

Harry exhaled a small sigh of relief when he saw that his hands were not the gnarled, blackened things he had seen the last time he'd been conscious. His face took on an expression of curiosity and surprise as he looked closer and saw that his hands seemed to have a silvery shine to them.

At closer examination he saw that they weren't his hands. They seemed to be composed of a molten, silvery metal that looked as though it were constantly flowing. One of the hands clenched as Harry realized what they were.

His mind quickly analyzed his situation and put everything together.

Metallic, silvery hands. Coupled with what he remembered his hands had looked like as he blacked out, he realized that one of the charms he had read about in the book must have been used on him.

What was it, he thought. It started with a P, but that was all he could recall. As he tried to remember the name and effects of the charm, Rodolphus began to speak. Harry noticed that Bellatrix had her wand out and was glaring at Rodolphus.

"Boy, I am afraid that this…unfortunate incident is mostly my fault. I failed to take proper precautions in your training, and you have paid a small price for it." Harry mentally raised an eyebrow. He'd lost his hands, not just gotten a small burn or something.

"As you can see, the amount of magic you channeled in your rage was far too much for the area you channeled it out of – your hands. The energy burned them too badly for them to be saved." Rodolphus motioned at the boy's hands. "Bella was forced to, ah, amputate them. Afterwards, I had one of our old contacts come here to perform the panacea charm on you."

"The results are in front of you. You will no longer have to worry about the magic you channel, and they are much stronger than your old ones. For a small price, we were able to get them charmed to prevent them from being dispelled by other wizards or enchantments."

Rodolphus inclined his head towards the bedridden boy. "Your training will begin again in a week."

As the man left the room, Bellatrix sent him one of her usual, somewhat psychotic smiles. Harry returned the smile as she left, feeling a little bit of warmth well up inside of him. His smile slowly faded as the thin woman left.

His loss finally hit him. He had lost his hands, had them burned to a crisp and then cut off by Bella. And even if he couldn't tell the difference between his old, natural hands and these new magical ones, they just didn't _feel _right.

And then the anger struck. Rodolphus had spent so much time teaching him to bind and beat his emotions, controlling them with an iron will, but he couldn't repress this. This…force…was the pent up anger he had never released in his training, the strength he had never channeled, the power he had never used.

It felt so good to release it. Around him the objects in the room rose up, vibrating with pent up energy. The new, silvery hands lit up like the sun as the rage brought his magic surging through the small body, and Harry could even feel them grow more powerful.

The observation distracted him and drew his anger out. He suddenly felt very tired, and laid back upon the large, soft bed.

He was there for barely a second before the exhaustion from his short tantrum and the stress brought him into unconsciousness' black embrace.

It was his first training session after the accident. Harry stood across from his opponent, carefully measuring the distance between them.

Eight feet. Short enough to use most spells effectively, as very few curses had a range so short that they would fizzle out within three meters. And that left the boy at a disadvantage. He still didn't have a wand, which meant he had to try to get the desired magic with his emotions. His opponent would easily say a single word and sent a burst of powerful light towards him.

That was not acceptable. The opponent would punish him for his weakness then, and Harry knew he would deserve it. He knew the opponent had arranged the duel like this for a reason, would never put Harry into an unbeatable situation. There had to be a way to win.

He edged around the enemy, constantly watching his arms and hands for any movement that could signal a spell. The enemy merely watched him, keeping the black wand trained upon the boy. A smirk was on the enemy's face, trying to annoy Harry.

Then some of Rodolphus' words struck him. "You will no longer have to worry about the magic you channel." Harry hoped that this was what he was testing, Rodolphus' punishments were always so much worse than Bella's…

The boy focused on the _fear_ he had felt every day at the orphanage, the _anger_ he'd felt when he found the pieces of his pet, and the sadistic pleasure that had been trained into him by Bella. He _wanted_ the feelings to become reality, to let him win this fight.

And the familiar, dark power arose within him, brought into being by his will. He smiled at the feeling, but never let go of his emotions. A second later, his hands began to glow and release the light of a white sun as crackling flames erupted out of them and launched towards the enemy.

Harry was amazed at the lack of sensation from his hands. Before, they had always been slightly pained when he used the magic. Now, they felt almost pleasant.

As the flames were directed away from the pleased Rodolphus with a mere flick of his wand, a happy smile spread over Harry's face.

These hands made anything possible. He might not like them, and still wanted his old hands back, but these weren't so bad. They made magic feel good, and opened up limitless opportunities for him to shine.

XxXxXx

"Ready," the tall man hissed to his companions. At their nod, his whispering started again. "Prepare yourselves. The moment I go, follow me," and here he gazed at his companions for a moment, "and for Merlin's sake, be quiet!"

When they were tensed up, the man hurled a handful of powder into the fireplace and yelled out, "DIAGON ALLEY!"

In a burst of emerald flame, the man vanished. The smallest member of their group went next and repeated the action. Once he was gone, their last member followed them.

They stood in the dark alley, lit only by the wands of the few who were still skulking about. Their hoods left them unrecognizable to the patrons of the Leakey Cauldron, although they attracted a bit of attention because of the child with them. The sneers that people could see underneath the hoods tended to cause them to keep their distance.

The trio hurried through the streets, knowing that time was of the essence.

Harry could barely keep up with the Lestranges' long strides, and cursed the robes he was wearing. The muggle clothes he'd worn at the orphanage were much less inhibiting.

But his excitement covered that. Today was the day he would receive a wand! They might be on a time limit of an hour, and had to come in through the unfamiliar Diagon Alley instead of Knockturn Alley, where it was easy to hide in the shadows.

Plus there were very few of the upstanding citizens who would try to stop the Lestranges if their potion wore off. Harry could vaguely hear the whispered complaints of the Lestranges as they neared Ollivander's shop.

"Damn expensive polyjuice potion…could have bought a hundred hours worth a few years ago. Now we can barely afford it at all…"

That would be Rodolphus. Bellatrix simply giggled maniacally as she walked next to the man. Harry smiled and caught up to them. It would be a shame if they punished him right after he got his wand.

Finally, after five minutes of walking and checking over their shoulders, the group arrived at the shop. Aside from a small incident where a man who bumped into Bella was nearly crucioed, there was no trouble.

When they knocked on the door, an old man with eerie, silvery eyes the color of Harry's new hands answered. "Ah," he whispered, "I didn't expect customers so late at night. But wands can never wait."

Ollivander waved them in and bustled off to find several boxes of wands. Harry noticed that both Bella and Rodolphus were extremely anxious beneath their veneer of calm, and both had their hands on their wands.

When Ollivander came back, he bid the boy to stand up and allow the measurers to begin their work. The old man's mouth opened to ask a question, but Rodolphus beat him to it.

"The boy's wand-arm is his left."

The wand maker sent an annoyed glance at the man, but continued his work. Harry could hear him mumbling about how wands choose their wizards and other such things, and was ecstatic when the first wand was handed to him.

He brought it down in an arc through the air, and was disappointed when the wand merely released pungent smelling smoke. "No, no," the wand-maker said as he yanked the wand from Harry's grasp, "that won't do. Try this one."

As the pile of wands grew higher, each of the visitors began to fidget, uncomfortably aware of how low on time they were running. Harry was by far the most fearful, afraid that they would all be caught because of him.

When it seemed that they would have to leave and return another time, Harry grasped the next wand that Ollivander offered. All of a sudden, the warmth that he had come to expect with magic flooded his body, making him gasp.

He turned adoring eyes to the wand, which Ollivander was enthusiastically describing. "Ah, yes, I thought that would be a good pairing for you! Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches! Although," Ollivander muttered thoughtfully, "I had expected it to be claimed in two-years. I suppose that child will have to settle for another wand."

Rodolphus and Bellatrix stood and motioned for Harry to come along after sending a curt thank you to the old man.

They bustled out and were nearly to the Leakey Cauldron, the nearest fire place, when Bella and Rodolphus' polyjuice began to wear off. Bella, keeping her face down, didn't notice the scruffy man that was walking towards her. She walked straight into him, knocking her to the ground and her hood ajar.

As her face became unveiled, the man's eyes widened in horror. "Oh, Merlin!" The man screamed, alerting the inhabitants of the Leakey Cauldron, "it's Bellatrix Lestrange!"

Bella snarled at the man and her lips were forming the word to her favorite spell before Rodolphus silenced her with a flick of his wand. "Don't be stupid, Bellatrix," he hissed, "We don't have time for this."

She glared at him, but nodded in acceptance. The mad woman grasped her wand tightly, and was already attempting to apparate when several aurors emerged from the tavern.

"Damn," the man muttered, "of course there would be aurors in the Cauldron. I blame the boy." He grabbed Harry, making sure that his hood was still up, and flicked his wand towards the approaching wizards. A wave of air emerged from his black wand and bowled the wizards over.

As soon as the men were incapacitated, Rodolphus apparated to the safe house they had agreed upon before their little trip. They found themselves in a forest, with a light dusting of snow on the ground. There was a small cabin two dozen feet away, and the man unceremoniously shoved the shivering boy towards it. He ignored the boy's retching from the apparition, and walked a few hundred feet away.

Rodolphus began waving his wand in intricate patterns, layering dozens of simple wards upon the property in order to prevent them from being tracked. He wove several lethal curses into the wards, hoping that it would at least slow the bastards down if they managed to find them.

He scanned his eyes over the land that surrounded the small, shabby cabin. If Bellatrix had gone to the wrong safe house, it was her fault. That could be dealt with later. But if the boy was being idiotic and hadn't gone straight into the cabin…well, it would be rather dire

Thankfully, he thought as he walked into the cabin and saw the boy lying on top of a pile of threadbare sheets, that wasn't the case. His eyes caught Bella prowling around the cabin, upending and searching various things for whatever reason.

He decided to ignore her…peculiarity…and collapsed upon a chair. Casting so much in such a short time could easily wear a wizard out, even one as powerful as Rodolphus. His eyes were shut within a few minutes.

Bella always did like guard duty…

Harry, on the other hand, was restless. He waited until Bella was asleep – she always ended up sleeping on guard duty – and snuck out of the front door. The boy carefully closed it and observed his surroundings.

It was a forest, that he could see for certain. There was snow on the forest floor, and every now and then he could hear it falling down from a tree.

He ended up wandering around, although he never ventured more than two-hundred feet from the cabin. Rodolphus tended to put his wards up at about that distance, and he wasn't stupid enough to test the man.

But just getting outside couldn't hurt, so long as he stayed within the wards. Or he hoped so, anyways. He walked around for nearly an hour, but still didn't feel tired. Harry was about to go back inside and try to go to sleep anyways when he saw a flicker of motion crossing through the wards.

A flicker of panic emerged within him, and he began to run towards the cabin. The shape is growing clearer now – closer. When he was halfway to the door, the shape tackled him.

The impact knocked the air out of him, and he desperately heaved for air as he looked up at his attacker. He managed to make out a dirty face, curled back in a sneer that exposed long, sharp looking canines. Scraggly hair framed the man's face. Panic rose up within him, and he tried to scream for help. Before the sound could get out, a dirty, foul-smelling hand covered his mouth.

"No, no, I can't have you doing that." The voice said in a falsely sweet tone, "you might ruin this little game." Harry could feel a long, sharp fingernail pushing hard against his neck, beginning to draw blood.

"So, meat," the man asks, "how did you get to my humble abode? Did the aurors send you in as bait? If they did, then I should thank them." The man licked his lips, staring at him with an intense, predatory gaze, "you'll make quite the _snack_."

Harry's panic reached new levels, and he focused on all of the rage he'd felt over the past weeks, the fear and hatred he had for this _thing_. His hands began to emanate a bright, silvery light as he felt the power gather within him. As he focused on how he _wanted_ this bastard to suffer, to be thrown off of him so he could escape, the man looked down with a confused expression.

"What in Merlin's name is…" the man started. A pained howl erupted from him as unimaginable pain tore through his body, feeling as though every single tiny piece of him were exploding. His hands reached up to grab his face, which felt as though it were being seared by fiendfyre. The man was unable to react as the boy rolled out from under him and began shouting for help.

"BELLA, RODOLPHUS!" Harry shouted as he stumbled away from the man, who was still screaming on the ground. A second later, an enraged Bella shot out of the cannon, blasting the door off of its hinges. Her violet eyes instantly locked on to the man, and a terrifying snarl erupted on her face.

She threw a crucio at the quivering man, who was scratching bloody furrows into his face, followed by a stunner. Bella frowned as she saw Harry stumbling towards her. "Get inside;" she ordered in a rare moment of terrifying ludicity, "we will take care of this filthy animal."

As Harry nodded and continued to stumble past an even more enraged Rodolphus, she sent one last remark to him. "Don't think we aren't going to punish you, little Harrykins. But we have," she eyed the twitching, drooling man with distaste, "more important things to attend to. Remain in that pathetic excuse of a home."

Harry dumbly nodded as he went into the cabin, looking dumbly down at his silvery hands as they lightly pulsed. It had been so long since he'd actually done anything to someone with his power, and he'd forgotten just how good actually using his power felt.

But he tore his minds from those thoughts and found his wand where he had left it, nervously twirling it as the first shouts of Rodolphus reached his ears.

"Fenrir Greyback," Rodolphus sneered as he looked onto the disgusting half-breed before him, "I hadn't expected you to be here. I would have thought that you would be gallivanting with the other mutts, mating like mindless animals beneath the moon."

Bellatrix cackled as the werewolf twisted onto his back and began to make pleas. "Ah, Rodolphus. I didn't know you were here. If I had, I would have cleaned the place up."

Rodolphus glared down at him and fired off a cutting hex. The werewolf howled in pain as a new gash erupted across his chest, leaving his ragged robes with an even larger bloodstain. "Do not attempt to exchange pleasantries with me, mutt! You see, you have made a rather grave error tonight, you –"

The man glared at Bellatrix as she interrupted. She spoke in the sing-song voice that everyone who had been around her for any length of time knew to fear. "The ickle puppy shouldn't have tried to hurt my little Harrykind," the mad woman giggled as the werewolf tried to push himself back in fear, "Bella's going to have fun _with_ you!"

Rodolphus shrugged as the first spell erupted out of Bellatrix's wand. He might not enjoy the torture as she did, but he certainly wasn't going to stop it.

But he had to wince when he saw the flaying curse strike the huddled man, who was already under the effects of a crucio and whatever the boy had put him under. As he thought of the boy, Rodolphus decided to leave Bella to her game. Perhaps this would tire her out enough so that she could actually sleep.

It was a long time before the screams of the filthy werewolf stopped.

Harry was still awake when the Lestranges finally came in. He couldn't sleep with the agonized yelps and shrieks of the man – Fenrir Greyback, Rodolphus had called him – and simply sat and listened in fascinated silence. Even after living with the Lestranges for a year, he hadn't actually been around when they had to "interrogate" someone.

It was about what he'd expected though, after listening to Bellatrix nostalgically speak of the times she had spent as a Death Eater. Some of them made his stomach churn from the vivid images she lovingly created in his mind.

He listened to them as they glanced over at him for a moment before hastily muttering to each other. They weren't trying to be particularly discreet however, as he could hear them quite easily.

"…Should have known the mutt would be here. This was always his favorite little hide-away after the raids." Said Rodolphus in an agitated tone.

"But it was oh-so fun to play with him! I've wanted to do that to the mongrel for _years_!" Bella said with some small amount of anger in her voice. "He shouldn't have attacked little Harrykins…"

"No," said Rodolphus with a cruel edge to his voice, "he should not have. Speaking of the boy," here the man sent a surreptitious glance over his shoulder at Harry, who was staring at the adults with blatant curiosity, "I think I know the perfect punishment for such an idiotic and disrespectful action."

That was the first, and only, time that Harry ever felt the cruciatus curse from his guardians.

XxXxXxXx

Harry was ten now, and it was nearly a year after he had gotten his wand. At the moment, he was in yet another training session with Rodolphus.

After he had obtained his wand, he had spent two months getting used to it. The amount of magic he had done before he had received the wand, combined with the intense training Rodolphus had given him in order to strengthen that ability, had made it extremely difficult to channel magic through the wand. For the first few times he'd attempted magic with the wand, his hands had released waves of magic that nearly destroyed the wand.

The boy had learned control soon, but it still took three weeks to stop allowing some of the magic to escape through his hands, which could drastically weaken a spell. It didn't help that he had never had to use spells before, as he simply willed the general effect into existence. Adjusting to the spoken words and wand motions had been…difficult.

But thanks to the excellent motivation that Rodolphus gave him – generally extremely painful curses - he managed to master the art. Rodolphus trained him in transfiguration and charms, and took over the majority of his education.

Bellatrix rarely engaged in his education, and only taught him the herbs and potions that were highly lethal, but when she did it was generally to teach him the dark arts and how to completely terrify his enemies.

Harry couldn't deny that he enjoyed those rare lessons, and made sure to give it his all in order to receive more of them. It wasn't often that he was able to spend much time with Bella, and he made sure to enjoy them when he did.

But at the moment, he was fighting his mentor. Rodolphus was enjoying the effortless battle, if his smirk was any indication. Harry prepared to throw a shield up; that smirk meant that a flurry of minor spells were about to fly at him.

His prediction came true, unfortunately, and he barely raised his shield before four weak cutting hexes lashed out of Rodolphus' wand. His shield held, but Harry quickly began moving. Although the Lestranges said he had plenty of raw power, he hadn't honed it enough to stand up to their own strength, something that irked him constantly. It didn't matter that he was so young, he needed to be stronger to be of any use to anyone.

Harry flicked his wand at the man, sending an_ impedimenta _at him. Rodolphus lazily deflected the spell, and threw a concussion hex at the boy. It easily shattered the shield Harry had put up a moment beforehand, and bowled the boy over.

The boy fumbled for his wand, which had been knocked ajar by the blast. His hand had just managed to grasp it before Rodolphus immobilized him.

"Damn it, boy," Rodolphus snarled, "put more power into your shields! A bloody first-year at Hogwarts would have better control than you! If you would actually focus on the fight I have no doubt that you would last more than a few seconds against me." With another snarl and flick of his wand, Rodolphus released him.

Harry rolled his eyes, but dutifully nodded his head. He heard Rodolphus give an exasperated sigh before the man spoke again. "We will move onto transfiguration…for now. I want you to last more than twenty seconds against me the next time we spar."

The ten year old nodded again and picked up his wand, which had rolled out of his hand when he was immobilized. He followed Rodolphus to a small table, which the man placed a squirming mouse on.

"Turn that into a glove before four o'clock. Make sure you pay attention to detail."

Harry turned to the rodent and immobilized it. Today would be a simple task, at least. Transfiguration always did come rather easy to him.

It was the next day, and Harry was fortunate to have Bella training him that day. Rodolphus had to "acquire" more polyjuice potion. At the moment, the boy was paying rapt attention to his favorite Lestrange.

"Today," Bella said with a maniacal grin, "we will be seeing just how far your…prowess…with curses has improved. I even brought in a little treat!" When she finished, she enthusiastically waved her wand. For a moment, nothing happened.

Then four bound people – muggles, if their clothes were any indication – appeared on the ground before him. Bellatrix twirled her wand between long fingers as Harry examined the immobilized muggles. There were three men, and one woman. None of them were particularly noteworthy, and were probably from the lowest dregs of society. Even Bella would be careful when capturing muggles, particularly since they'd had a close call with the aurors just a few weeks ago.

But he refocused, and looked to the witch for instruction. "Ooh," she laughed, "we get to have fun today! You get to use a very special curse this time, little Harry." Bella flashed him a predatory grin and bound each of the muggles before recalling the immobilization, "Watch closely!"

Harry paid rapt attention as she leveled her wand down at the largest muggle and shrieked, "CRUCIO!" As the muggle screamed and contorted in agony, the boy watched in clinical fascination. The cried and convulsions gave him no pleasure, but they fascinated him in some deep, mysterious way that he couldn't quite understand.

When Bella lowered her wand Harry stepped forward. He aimed his wand at the same muggle who had just been cursed, and was surprised as Bella held up a hand to stop him. "Not yet, little Harry," the mad woman sang as she twirled her own wand between her fingers, "I need to make sure you know how to use the curse, know how to _enjoy_ it!"

"You know the power you get from magic. Feel the power of your hatred and fear flow through your body, hone that hatred into magic. Then," she crooned softly, "release that magic into the filthy muggle. You need to _want_ it more than anything else, you have to _love_ the power of watching your victims squirm in agony!"

Harry nodded and focused on his old method of using magic as he leveled his wand at the terrified muggle. He brought all of his anger and pain erupt in his mind, and focused on how much he _wanted_ to watch the man screaming on the ground, how much he _wanted_ to inspire fear in his enemies, how much he _wanted_ to please Bella.

With a look down at the muggle, Harry hissed, "Crucio!" His raw emotion purpose was given a purpose, and he could feel the effect on the curse.

As the man lay screaming on the ground, surrounded by acrid smells, Harry thought he might just understand Bella's love for the curse.

Harry eyed the twitching, screaming man as he listened to Bella's mad giggles. For a moment he considered putting the muggle out of his misery, but thought better of it. Not only would he be punished, but that would displease Bella.

And that was something he would always try his best to avoid.

A/N:Hopefully you liked this story so far, and I hope that you continue reading. The quality gets better from here.


	2. Chapter Two: And So Our Story Begins

A/N: As Fable says, "And so the story begins…" Thanks to everyone that has read it, and please review.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

He was twelve when his idyllic existence of travelling and training was disrupted.

Harry was training with Rodolphus, rapidly firing curses back and forth, when they felt a tremble surge throughout the safe house that they had been hiding in. Both froze after avoiding the last curses, and even Rodolphus' eyes widened in slight apprehension.

It wasn't long before the man reacted, however. "Boy!" he snapped, "Find Bellatrix and get out, I'll meet up with both of you later!"

The boy nodded and swept out of the room in a hurry. The long halls of the old Death Eater compound were silent as he raced through, and the drab surroundings cast shadows that only enhanced the fear he was feeling. Harry held his wand tightly in his hand as he called out for Bella.

He had just arrived at the Lestranges' room when another brief tremble rattled the compound. This time, however, Harry could feel the wards being torn away. Harry cursed and yanked the door open, awakening a sleeping Bellatrix.

Bellatrix immediately grabbed her wand and leveled it at Harry with a predatory look on her face, although it slipped off when she saw who had disturbed her. "What the…" she muttered confusedly.

"Intruders! Wards are gone..." he growled, looking at Bella frantically from beneath his hair. She snarled and leapt up from the bed. The mad woman grasped his arm and tried to apparate, and let out a loud scream of rage when it failed.

When she released his arm he backed away, fearful of what an enraged Bella might do. Aside from a few curses that blasted out of the wand, crushing every piece of opulent furniture, she did nothing.

In fact, Harry thought, she seemed remarkably calm. Bella was already attempting to summon a portkey when a booming voice erupted through the compound, courtesy of a sonorous charm.

"BY THE ORDER OF THE MINISTER OF MAGIC, CORNELIUS FUDGE," a grizzled voice shouted, "ALL INHABITANTS OF THIS BUILDING ARE UNDER ARREST! DO NOT RESIST CAPTURE OR YOU WILL BE EXECUTED ON THE SPOT!"

A mere moment later, Harry heard a loud crash. He held onto his wand tightly and got behind Bella, who had abandoned the search for a portkey and was standing at an angle to the door. "Harry," she hissed quietly, "keep your wand ready and cast a disillusionment charm on yourself. Escape if you can. And don't get caught!"

Harry nodded his acceptance and cast the charm, shivering as he felt the sensation it produced. He made sure to stay behind Bella as she abandoned her earlier position and found a more tactical one.

The apprehension was far worse than any actual battle could be. His muscles were tense as he awaited the action, and he could feel his silvery hands beginning to glow as a small amount of magic was released from him. A look from Bella made him tighten his control.

Bella was about to move to another position when the door was carefully opened. Harry managed to make out thick red robes before Bella launched into action.

She stabbed her wand at the intruder and shrieked, "Crucio!" When the intruder fell to the ground, writhing in agony, Bellatrix finished him off with a killing curse. She prepared herself, and Harry made sure to get behind one of the pieces of heavy furniture. He made sure to weight it down with a spell so that it wouldn't slam into him if an expluso was fired into it.

Even though he knew he was a decent dueler even by adult standards, thanks to the years of training, Harry knew he would be of no help at all to Bellatrix. All he would be was a distraction, one that would be taken out of the fight in no time at all if the aurors were well-trained and experienced.

And considering how dangerous the Lestranges were, that would be a given.

But he watched as another walked through the door, conjuring a large chunk of stone to absorb the Unforgivables that Bella was sending at him. The other aurors used blasting charms on the walls that led into the room, opening up more entrances into the room. When several aurors poured in through the new openings, Harry discreetly cast a blasting curse of his own at them, tearing a gaping hole in one auror's chest and hurling another of the wizards into the hallway.

The wizard was knocked out from the impact, and the remaining aurors immediately shot their own spells at his general location. Thanks to the bookcase he was hiding behind the boy was unscathed. The momentary distraction allowed Bella to dispatch the remaining three by firing an explosive charm at their feet, breaking their legs and hurling them into the hallway.

When Bella finished making sure they would stay down, both of them fled. Bella cast her own disillusionment charm, and Harry followed right behind her. The duo was silent as they crept through the hall, aside from a few times when the boy ran into Bellatrix.

They were nearly caught several times by aurors that were patrolling through the halls, but they managed to get out of the wizards' way before they could be discovered. Harry was sure Bella was itching to crucio the lot of them, but was thankful she had some modicum of self-control.

As they reached the front entrance, they felt the wards drop. Harry felt excitement grip him, and prepared his wand. When Bella would try to apparate him away, they would be exposed to any spells for a single moment. The drills they'd done had prepared him for his role in situations like these, which would be to either block any spells or try to kill or debilitate as many of their pursuers as he possibly could.

Bella had been about to grab his arm when a barrage of spells erupted from several aurors that materialized in the room. The mad woman screamed in rage and lashed out with her own destructive spells, while Harry's training kicked in. He conjured a shield that blocked the stunners, although it sapped quite a bit of his strength.

Their spells dispelled the disillusionment charm, and revealed both of their figures to the aurors, who stood in stunned surprise. "Bloody hell…" one croaked out, "they have a kid?"

Bella quickly moved to take advantage of their distraction when a red streak of light hit her in the back. Harry shouted in distress as he saw her fall unconscious, and was quick to see who had fired the spell.

His eyes landed on a stocky, ugly man who seemed to be missing about half of his body. He had a peg leg with a clawed foot, and a disturbingly blue eye that spun around in his head. It quickly met his glare, and the man drew his wand.

It seemed that he'd finally come across Mad-Eye Moody. The Lestranges had been quite forceful in his learning of the most dangerous aurors, and Moody had been the central figure of that education. He was powerful enough to fend off the Lestranges, and that bloody eye gave him an advantage that offset the disadvantage that his leg gave him. Harry wasn't feeling particularly confident at the moment, but resolved to at least stand his ground.

"Calm down boy," the man growled, "you can't do anything to us, no matter how badly you wish you could. Now, put the wand down."

Harry hesitated, but complied with the request. He couldn't exactly try to escape if he was stunned, after all.

He carefully lowered his wand, although he made sure to watch the aurors. They were glancing at him with curious looks, looks that he would simply love to tear off of their faces with a crucio. It really was tempting to flick his wand and see their reactions when one of their spines was torn out.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't be worth it.

"Good," Moody said, "now drop it. Do not resist as we bind you. The Ministry of Magic isn't interested in stunning children."

Harry nodded his acceptance once more, and awaited the aurors that were moving painfully slow towards him. When one reached him, he hid a smile.

He didn't exactly need a wand to do magic, after all.

A scowl twisted his pale features as all of the panic and hatred was brought to the surface of his mind and he focused on how much he _wanted_ to crush these wizards, how he _needed_ to watch them fall before him. How much he _needed_ to help Bella.

"What in Merlin's bleeding arse is that?" One of the aurors exclaimed as the boy's hands began glowing. The light illuminated the dark chamber, and cast everything into silvery light. The other aurors spoke their own confusion, oblivious to Harry's smirk.

The boy decided to confuse them even more, and wiped the scowl off of his face, replacing it with a look of bewildered terror. "What's happening to me," he cried, his eyes widening in mock fear, "what are my hands doing?"

"We don't know, boy," one of the female aurors said comfortingly, "but I'm sure it's not bad."

The majority of the aurors stepped forward, trying to find out what was happening. But a few stood back, not trusting the strange boy. Others began to move towards Bellatrix to bind her. Moody was about to order the idiots back when all hell broke loose.

A wave of force erupted from Harry's hands, blasting most of the aurors into the walls. Some managed to get their shields up in time, and Moody had already begun to fire stunners at the boy.

Harry grasped his wand and flicked it upwards, taking advantage of the momentary weaknesses of the aurors. One screamed as his spine was torn out, and then went silent. He didn't wait for the aurors to recover, and ignored his exhaustion in order to send out even more spells.

His blasting spells were easily blocked by most of the aurors that had recovered, but badly hurt those that weren't able to get a shield up in time. He tried to fire off cutting curses next, but was quickly caught by several body-binders, as well as a bludgeoning curse in the stomach.

As he fell to the ground with his breath gone, he heard Moody complement those who had taken him down. "Good shots, even if he is just a kid. Dawlish, no more bludgeoners. That could have killed the scrawny blighter. And trust me," he growled, "that wouldn't have made the Wizengamot happy."

He glared up at the aurors as one, a nervous young woman with pink hair, levitated him up. "Be careful Tonks," one of the aurors joked, "I think he bites."

Moody was limping over to them with a Ministry badge – likely a portkey – when his normal eye widened. "Shields up!" The crippled man bellowed. The other aurors immediately sprung into action, and kept their shields ready.

It was several seconds before whatever danger the paranoid auror saw began. Harry heard no warning before the room erupted in flame and explosions.

The shields protected the aurors from the worst of the damage, but the force managed to knock many of them down. After the initial attack, nothing happened for several moments, allowing many of the aurors to prepare once more, but also inspiring a strong sense of paranoia and anxiety in them.

Mad-Eye's eye was spinning around so quickly that Harry felt dizzy watching it. It apparently found whatever it was looking for, as the man spun around as fast as he could and released a wall of flame at one of the corners.

Harry couldn't tell where the auror was firing now, but did see a nearly colorless streak of light make contact with Moody, who was too focused on his own offense to notice it. Had he not been paralyzed, Harry would have smirked as the man simply collapsed, as well as the effect it had on the remaining aurors.

The aurors panicked and began to rapidly throw stunners into any dark corners. They didn't notice a disillusioned figure drop a stone into Bella's hand, or how she disappeared the moment the stone touched her.

They did notice when Tonks was stunned, and the figure grabbed the boy and his wand and twisted. Harry saw many streaks of red light flying towards them before he disappeared.

Harry landed on a soft, green expanse of grass. He tried to move, but found that the damnable body bind was still in place.

The boy was merely happy that they'd escaped, and that Rodolphus had managed to get his wand. He did not fancy having to go to Ollivander's again.

Harry tried to find Rodolphus, and managed to see the bended light that surrounded those under the disillusionment charm. The nearly invisible form was limping towards him, and flicked his dark wand.

He sighed in relief as his limbs were released. As he stood up, he took his wand back from Rodolphus, who had finally released the disillusionment charm.

"Master," he asked, "where are we? And how did the aurors find us?"

"I wish that I knew how they found us," Rodolphus muttered darkly, "as to where we are…well, look around."

Harry did so, and was stunned at what he saw. Even in the dark, he could tell the place was resplendent. The mansion – no, palace – that stood before him was made of shining, ancient looking stone. Great arbor serpents surrounded the entranceway, and the seal of an old pureblood family stood above the door.

In fact, the only thing that detracted from the manor's extravagant appearance was the multitude of snow white peacocks. Harry furrowed his brow in confusion, and then sent a questioning look to Rodolphus.

To his surprise, the man actually chuckled. "Lucius always did have…odd tastes."

"Lucius Malfoy?" Harry asked.

"Of course," Rodolphus snapped, "didn't you recognize the seal? You were educated on the emblems and political leanings of the most prominent magical families, and I expect you to put that education to use."

Harry nodded his acceptance, and listened carefully as Rodolphus continued speaking. "Bellatrix should already be inside, since I made her portkey more precise than our own apparition. With any luck, Lucius won't stab us in the back. But," here he glanced down at Harry, "I expect for you to behave as a member of the Lestrange family should. The Malfoys have a son about your age, Draco, and I suggest you not antagonize him."

"Of course, master." Harry replied. He felt slightly uneasy about that information, as he'd had minimal contact with anyone besides Bella and Rodolphus for the past four years, let alone someone his own age.

"Also," Rodolphus muttered as they neared the great wooden door, "I have no doubt that Lucius will attempt to use legilimency on you. Feel free to show him just how adept you are at defending your mind."

A smirk arose on Harry's face momentarily, although it was quickly wiped off when Rodolphus tapped the door with his wand. As Rodolphus said, he would need to act as befitting a Lestrange.

They didn't have long to wait before a house elf opened the door and led them into a room without a word. Harry examined the interior closely, curiously eyeing the portraits that arrogantly assessed him and Rodolphus. The inside of the manor was just as formidable as the exterior, and the cold stone was slightly comforting.

But all of these thoughts went away when they entered a large living room, where a man and woman with platinum blonde hair sat, along with Bella. Bella looked tired, but was speaking to the woman somewhat amicably. Harry's eyes focused upon the man as he stood up, followed by the two women.

"Ah, Rodolphus," Lucius said in a welcoming tone, "it must have been ten years since you were last entered the manor. It is a pleasure to see you again, old friend."

"To you as well," smiled Rodolphus, although Harry could tell it didn't reach his eyes. But his attention was focused back on Lucius, who didn't seem to have seen him yet.

"Now that the pleasantries are over, would you like to inform me just why you and Bellatrix are here at this ungodly hour?" Lucius said in a harsh tone, "Your mere presence here puts my family at risk, and if you don't have a damned good reason to be here, I will have the wards banish you."

Harry could practically feel Rodolphus' teeth grind together in annoyance. "We were at a safe house in Wales when the aurors showed up. They almost had us, but thanks to quick thinking and luck, we were able to escape."

"And you came here, knowing that aurors had discovered you? Lestrange, are you mad? Get out of my home!"

Rodolphus put his hands up in an attempt to calm the Malfoy patriarch down. "Calm down, Lucius! If we had anywhere else to go, we would have gone there. Unfortunately, I don't trust any of the old Death Eater sanctuaries anymore, and we aren't able to move around as unrestricted."

It was then Lucius noticed Harry, and went very still. "Lestrange…why in Merlin's name do you have a child with you? He can't be more than a year younger than Draco!"

The Lestranges inwardly smirked, and Rodolphus made his move. "He's our child, obviously."

Harry felt warmth in his chest as he heard the words, even if he knew they were only spoken in order to manipulate the Malfoys. It was nice to hear that he was a member of their family, no matter how false it was.

He could tell that this rattled Lucius, who motioned for his wife to leave for a moment. "Excuse us, Rodolphus," he said carefully, "but Narcissa and I need to speak to each other for a moment."

Rodolphus lazily waved him out with a smirk on his face. When the blonde man left, he collapsed on a chair with his head in his hands.

"I'd forgotten how…tiresome Lucius could be. Always trying to find nonexistent plots around him, and all the while trying to charm you out of your last galleon."

The Lestranges, tired and littered with light injuries, were close to passing out when the Malfoys finally returned. Harry's slightly blurry vision noted a look of triumph upon Narcissa's face, while Lucius' held a reluctant one.

It was the blonde man who spoke. "We have decided to allow you to stay at the manor for now, until you have obtained a new residence." Lucius turned a piercing glance towards Rodolphus. "But you should know that it is likely that aurors are already on their way here, considering our wives' relation. I will attempt to buy you a few hours or so to prepare, but for now I will send you to a panic room."

Rodolphus nodded in acceptance, but his stony face spoke volumes to Harry. He knew that Rodolphus didn't trust the blonde man – not that he trusted anyone outside of their small, dysfunctional family – and didn't like to rely on his mercy. To be honest, Harry didn't either. From what Bella and Rodolphus had told him of Lucius, the man would sell them out in a second if his wife didn't stop him.

"I will take you to the safe room, follow me." Narcissa said. Harry stared at her intently, privately noting that Bella and Narcissa shared virtually no similarities in appearance. Where Bella was dark, Narcissa was light. Harry wouldn't be surprised if they had completely different fathers. Not that the "Ancient and Most Noble House of Black" would ever lower itself to adultery or other dishonorable actions. At least, that was what Bella tried to burn into his mind.

Harry was torn out of his musings when he realized that the adults had started to move. He trailed behind, keeping a tight grip on his wand. The warmth of the magic that infused the wood comforted him, and helped to energize him.

He barely listened to the conversation that Bella was holding with her sister, and focused more on not dropping to the ground in exhaustion. Harry felt that Rodolphus was on the same path as he was, although the man was much more alert. Even in the relative safety of the manor his eyes were constantly darting to the shadows, searching for any hidden, nonexistent threats.

They'd been walking through the vast manor for about five minutes when Narcissa took a sharp turn into a room that Harry could have sworn wasn't there before. A small, inconspicuous wooden door was easily opened by the blonde, who easily slipped in through the small space. Bella followed her lead, although Rodolphus had to hunch over in order to get through. Harry mentally smirked, but followed through.

The moment he stepped in, the door quietly shut. Harry noticed a slight shimmer of magic wash over the door, and realized that the door must be warded to keep those that were not members of the Malfoy family from noticing it.

Narcissa turned towards the Lestranges. "Stay here until either me or Lucius return for you. If necessary, we will send a house elf. One will arrive soon with food."

She looked pointedly at both Harry and Rodolphus, who were practically swaying on their feet. "After you eat, I suggest that all of you get some sleep. And bathe as well, you all smell like trolls."

Rodolphus was about to send a biting remark back when Bella shook her head at him. He sneered, but didn't say anything as a smirking Narcissa left the room. Harry looked around at the simple room. Several passages presumably led to the bathrooms and other necessary areas, and an elegant table and chairs were spread throughout the room. Compared to some of their previous homes, this was rather comfortable.

After Narcissa left, the Lestranges didn't speak, and sat for a few minutes in comfortable silence before Bellatrix left to one of the beds. Rodolphus simply glared at a stone wall, plainly thinking of a way to escape should Lucius betray them. Harry absentmindedly twirled his wand between his fingers and reviewed his strategies. Every now and then he would use a weak stinging hex on himself to stay awake.

It was about half an hour before a house elf appeared in the room with a tray full of food and bottles of liquid. Rodolphus had his wand aimed at the small creature in an instant before he realized what it was. The shaking house elf put the tray on the table and silently apparated out of the room.

Harry watched Rodolphus aim a diverse array of diagnostic charms at the food, carefully observing whether or not anything had been added into it. When it came up negative, he reluctantly began to eat. Harry followed suit, marveling at the quality of the food. He'd always had more than enough food, but the Lestranges weren't exactly able to get the best food on the market. They had always simply found a decent enough meal and then multiplied it.

When he had finished eating, he realized that Bellatrix was still asleep. He stood up and walked over to the beds. When he found Bella, he carefully woke her up with a shield spell in place. It served its purpose well, and stopped the cutting curse that Bella fired at him the moment she found her wand.

Bella stopped trying to attack him when she saw who he was, and simply stumbled over to the table. Harry found his own bed and fell asleep, desperately hoping he wouldn't have to leave this home for a long while yet.

A stinging hex, which was much stronger than the ones he'd used on himself the night before, awoke him. His eyes shot open, and he was hit by another one. Harry finally found his wand and conjured a shield to protect him from Rodolphus' little game.

As he sat up, he heard Rodolphus begin to speak. "Hurry up boy. A house elf," Rodolphus sneered, obviously angry at the snub the Malfoys had given him, "has given us the all clear. Lucius managed to convince that bumbling idiot Fudge that we aren't here. It cost him a surprisingly small amount of gold, astoundingly enough."

Harry observed as Rodolphus absentmindedly flicked his wand. Small tendrils of smoke erupted out of it and showed him the time. "Be ready in ten minutes. We need to be in the dining room in fifteen."

The boy nodded and hastened to the bathroom. A few charms and a short shower later he emerged in the new robes that had been placed in the bathroom. They were rather comfortable, and of much higher quality than anything he'd worn before. He began to suspect that it would become the norm around here.

Harry held his wand in a forearm holster beneath his robes as he followed Bella and Rodolphus to the dining room. He was well aware of the portraits watching them with haughty expressions and cold eyes, obviously not thinking that the Lestranges were worthy to be prowling the ancient home of the Malfoys. A slight feeling of nervousness was constricting his chest, and he longed to dispel it by unleashing a stream of uncontrolled fiendfyre onto the proud portraits.

The feeling of magic rushing through his body always made him feel peaceful and powerful, which was exactly what he needed at the moment. He was jerked out of his thoughts by Bella and Rodolphus' voices, and he carefully trained his ears to listen in on the muttered conversation. They were nearing the dining room, if the smells were any indication, and it would be nice to get any information he could.

"…Don't trust Lucius, the bastard would sell us out in a moment if he could."

"Cissy wouldn't let that happen. We haven't seen each other since we were nearly thrown into Azkaban after all, and she wouldn't want to lose me again. She always was so sentimental."

Just then Rodolphus looked backwards and saw Harry absentmindedly staring at the walls. "Eavesdropping is a bad habit. And be on your best behavior while in the presence of the Malfoys. We are surviving at their discretion at the moment, and it would be a shame if your idiocy resulted in us all being sent to Azkaban."

The boy dutifully nodded just as they stepped into the dining room. As he stepped in behind Bella, he made his face as neutral as possible.

As he stepped into the room, Harry noticed that the Malfoys were already seated at an opulent, circular table of mahogany. Now that he wasn't exhausted from the battle, Harry could analyze them much better.

Lucius eyed them with annoyance for a moment before he wiped any semblance of emotion off of his face. It was plain that he resented their presence in his home as well as the gold he had been forced to spend in order to keep them safe.

Narcissa's bearing was friendlier, although she had even less emotion on her face than Lucius did. She didn't seem very interested in Rodolphus, and was constantly changing her attention from Bella to Harry. He could detect the slightest hint of confusion in her eyes, although it wasn't prominent.

He assumed that the blonde boy that was practically identical to Lucius was Draco. The boy was slightly larger than he was, and was staring at the Lestranges in confusion and apprehension. Harry inwardly snorted at how…unguarded the boy seemed, especially for a Malfoy. He would have assumed that Lucius would be as diligent in teaching his son occlumency as Rodolphus had been for him. From the obvious emotion that permeated him, it was clear that this wasn't the case.

His focus changed onto the delicious looking food as he sat down next to Draco, who looked vaguely uncomfortable with his closeness. Bella slid into the seat next to her sister, while Rodolphus took the seat directly across from Lucius.

It was a quiet meal at first, as everyone ate in awkward silence. Lucius finally broke it as he started up a conversation with Rodolphus.

"Where have you been hiding all of these years, Lestrange?" Lucius said.

Rodolphus looked up from his meal with a guarded look in his eyes. "We've been in Europe, although we return to the Isles for a few weeks each year."

Lucius nodded, clearly expecting such an answer. "I assume you did not face much trouble from the aurors until recently, correct?"

"Yes," Rodolphus said suspiciously, "would you happen to know anything about that? I would like to know how they were able to find one of the old safe houses; they were practically impenetrable, and that was only if anyone could find them."

The blonde's lip curled upwards in amusement. "That would be because of the capture of Barty Crouch Jr. The aurors found him imperiused in his father's home, hidden beneath an invisibility cloak."

Both Rodolphus and Bella looked stunned. "Really?" said Rodolphus. "We had thought he escaped from the Longbottoms' home unscathed."

"He did," Lucius said, "the aurors gave up on their search for him after a year or so, but he was captured by his father about five years ago. Barty was hidden and imperiused for the entire time. I'm not sure how he was found, but when he was they immediately put him under veritaserum and gained the locations of most of the old safe houses."

Rodolphus grimaced at that. "What happened to him afterwards? I doubt even _Dumbledore_," he spoke the name with distaste, "would be particularly merciful towards him; not after what he took part in."

The blonde bowed his head. "The moment he was unable to be of anymore aid to the aurors he was Kissed."

Everyone in the room, even Draco, grimaced slightly at the news. That was a possible fate for both Lestranges, and something that all death eaters constantly feared during the war.

"But," Lucius said, "let us move onto more pleasant topics." He directed his stare at Harry, who met his eyes with no fear.

Harry felt the man send a questing probe into his mind, trying to fish for any information Harry might have. The boy inwardly smirked as Lucius found nothing but a blank void.

Lucius seemed slightly impressed as he spoke to Harry. "So, child, what is your name?"

"Hadrian, sir." Harry was willing to give his formal name to Lucius, since the Lestranges had not yet given him a middle name to use in this situation, and it was doubtful that his guardians would ever name their child Harry.

He received a thoughtful nod in turn, although Lucius' attention returned to Rodolphus. "Where were you hiding him during the war? I never even heard a word about him, and I don't remember Bellatrix ever being with child."

Rodolphus was quick to answer. "We used glamors to hide the pregnancy. If you would remember the time that Bellatrix was "injured" for five months, than you would realize that was when she was too far along to partake in raids anymore."

As the conversation went on, Harry watched Draco out of the corner of his eye. The blonde boy seemed fascinated by the memories that the adults were reminiscing about. Bellatrix and Narcissa only spoke to each other, and being unable to hear what they were saying annoyed Harry to no end.

About an hour after the meal was actually finished, the two families rose from their chairs.

"Rodolphus, Bellatrix, please follow us. We have much to speak of, things that should not be heard by the children."

Harry inwardly smirked as Draco scowled at being called a child. He prepared to return to the safe room when Rodolphus called to him. "Boy, you will be coming with us. There are things that you will need to hear."

He nodded and dogged Bellatrix's steps as they left the room. A small smirk washed over his face; he could practically feel Draco's jealous eyes burning into his back.

The Malfoys lead them into a parlor, and Harry could feel the wards wash over him. The magic caused his hands to glow brightly for a moment. He felt slightly uncomfortable under the intense stares the Malfoys aimed at him.

"What is this?" Narcissa asked quietly, although Harry could hear the curious undertone in her voice. When neither of the Lestranges answered, Harry was forced into it.

"My hands were badly injured in a training accident," Harry said politely, although his mind pulled images of his black and twisted to the forefront of his thoughts. "They were too far gone to save, so I received enhanced ones."

"I thought there was something strange about your hands." Narcissa whispered. "I apologize if I brought back any painful memories."

Harry sent a charming smile back, one that had been carefully trained into him during his training. "It is no matter Lady Malfoy, the incident was long ago. I find it more important to focus upon the future than on things that are unable to be changed."

Here Lucius butted in. "An admirable attitude to have. It is unfortunate that one as young as yourself would be forced to adopt it, however."

He was unsure of how to answer, and withheld a sigh of relief when Rodolphus responded in his stead. "Yes," the tall man said quickly, "it is quite unfortunate. Now," here he sharpened his voice, "what was it that you wished to speak to us about?"

Harry was aware of Lucius' pale eyes glancing at him for a moment before he spoke to Rodolphus. "Considering your current situation, I thought it would be important for you to be aware that many dementors have been withdrawn from Azkaban in search of you. It seems that, with the new developments in their pursuit of you, they are more than willing to pour resources into your capture. A ten thousand galleon bounty has been placed on you and Bellatrix, and my sources at the ministry have reported that they are trying to find the boy's identity."

"They won't have much luck," Rodolphus sneered. "But I'm somewhat surprised at the paltry sum they believe we are worth. Ten thousand galleons? We are worth far more than that."

Malfoy smirked at the indignant man. "I do believe that your reputation has dimmed somewhat, if even those overzealous aurors don't think you're worth much. How the mighty have fallen," he said dramatically.

Rodolphus didn't respond, and merely scowled at the blonde man. Lucius didn't bat an eye, and resumed speaking. "I also need to inform you that you will have less than a week to get ready. Even Fudge was unwilling to stall the aurors forever, not with the public clamoring for your blood."

"Do you know any safe locations?" Rodolphus asked. "I would prefer to be somewhere that could never be traced to us."

"Of course you would," Lucius scowled, "but that is completely impossible. There is a well defended home in France that will serve you well, but there is a small chance that the French ministry will discover it."

"As loath as I am to say it," Rodolphus said, his face twisting up in annoyance, "it is worth the risk. Britain is not safe at the moment, and he," the man nodded towards Harry, "needs to revisit France. It is the land of our family's roots, after all, and we still have many allies there."

Lucius nodded, and Harry barely listened as the adults began to make plans. He made sure that he knew the details, but wasn't particularly willing to painstakingly listen to each nuance in the plot they made.

About an hour later, the plan was finished and Lucius left to execute it. Harry left for the safe room, and ignored the curious looks Narcissa sent him as he walked out.

It had been a week since they'd arrived at Malfoy Manor, and it seemed that their short visit was coming to an end. Lucius had drawn up all the necessary arrangements and had fully stocked the small home.

At the moment they were surrounding a large silver chalice that lay on a table. Harry listened closely to Lucius as he gave them all of the necessary information on the house, as well as any relevant forces attempting to hunt them.

"I know for a fact that British and French aurors are working together to capture you, although the French are doing very little to actually aid. Their contribution mainly seems to be locking down any of your known properties in the country and allowing our aurors to work unhindered."

"Damn," Rodolphus cursed, "at least in Britain the aurors are bound by the bureaucracy. If they're given too much freedom it could spell a bloody end for us."

Harry looked at the man in concern. It was rare that Rodolphus was actually flustered or annoyed enough to curse, even when things had taken as bad a turn as this. He knew the dangers of aurors with no restrictions, how they would be able to use spells that would be Azkaban worthy in any other cases, but Rodolphus seemed to actually be slightly afraid.

"You don't need to worry too much, Lestrange," the Malfoy patriarch drawled in amusement, "I doubt they will be allowed to use any permanently incapacitating spells. Fudge needs you alive so that he can show off his great victory to his adoring public."

"I suppose even idiotic politicians like Fudge have their uses," Bellatrix sneered.

"But Bella," Lucius said smoothly, "idiot politicians are the best kind. If he wasn't such a fool, each of you would be standing trial for the Kiss at this moment."

The Lestranges were silent for a moment, allowing Lucius to continue. "I suggest you remain within the home for a full week before even considering venturing out. It will give the aurors time to calm down."

"We aren't idiots," Rodolphus growled, "we've been on the run for nearly eleven years Malfoy. We certainly don't need your advice."

"Of course, Rodolphus, I did not mean to offend."

The male Lestrange gave one last sneer and then looked at the chalice. "How long until the portkey activates? I am more than ready to be away from these islands."

Lucius shot a spell at the silver container. "One minute."

The Lestranges nodded and put their hands upon the portkey. They waited until it began to emanate a soft glow. A moment later they felt themselves being yanked away by magic.

Harry bent his knees a moment before he landed. He let out a small grunt when the force of the landing hit him, but did not fall over. The Lestranges showed no reaction at all, having far more experience with portkeys than he did.

The boy scanned the room he'd landed in carefully. There were no disillusioned aurors hiding, which was a good sign, and it was rather average looking. It was wooden, and had a simple feel to it, but would serve quite well as a home.

He thought he would enjoy these next few weeks.


	3. Chapter Three: Return

A/N: Hello loyal readers and those who have me on their alert list – all one hundred and one of you – I regret to inform you that this story is officially abandoned.

Not really, but I am going to inform you all that I have actually developed a plot for it and am now focusing all of my attention to my first real story. Updates will now be more frequent than every four months. Please review.

Xx

It had been a month since they had settled into their new home, and Harry was enjoying every second of it. The Malfoys had remained true to their promises, and the house was fully stocked. Harry hadn't known peace in several years, and found that it was rather pleasant. The Lestranges hated it however. Rodolphus fast forwarded Harry's training to alleviate his own boredom, and Bellatrix began to duel with them as well.

Harry was pleased to note that he could keep up with them more easily now, and was capable of delving into magic that he would barely have been able to use a few months ago. He was being taught how to use simple charms and transfiguration in combat, and even the Lestranges had difficulty in combating his ruthless creativity with them.

But today he found himself looking at a short, jolly man that _should not be in his home_. Harry raised his hand and sprayed a burst of uncontrolled ice at the man, illuminating the room with his hands as he did so, while he raised his wand.

The other man smiled and withdrew his own wand. Harry saw him perform a few motions too fast for him to analyze before he found himself flat on his back. He tried to get up but found a heavy boot pressing into his throat. His hands began to glow as power entered them, but a few more wand motions somehow cut off the flow of magic to them.

For the first time in a very long time Harry felt truly helpless. His hands were dead to him – he couldn't even move them, let alone fight with them – and the strange man had his wand in his hand. Harry thought he was going to be killed or captured for sure, and wondered why Bella and Rodolphus weren't helping him. Had they been captured as well?

Suddenly, the man offered Harry a hand up. The man threw his wand away to keep Harry from getting lucky, but Harry cautiously accepted it. When he was stable, he felt the magic return to his hands and instantly launched a punch faster than most humans could see at the man.

Had his hand impacted, the man would have a rather unsightly hole through his chest. Somehow, however, the man dodged it and slammed his own fist into Harry's stomach. It was worse than a bludgeoner and dropped Harry to the ground.

He gasped and glared up at the man who was smiling at him with amusement.

"Adequate." The man said clinically. Harry saw that an enchanted quill was writing every word he said down. "Much more skill and power than average at age, but talent is unrefined. Utilized wandless magic to keep me at bay while went for wand. Fast, but needs improvement. Attempted to attack while I was off balance, shows basic knowledge of fist fighting uncommon for pureblood wizard. Great potential."

Harry stared at him. "Who are you?" He asked, aware that he had no chance against this man.

"My name is William Walus." The stranger bowed, now speaking in a normal voice. His accent marked him as British. "And I am your new teacher."

"A teacher?" He asked skeptically, doubting the Lestranges would trust anyone enough to see him.

"Yes." The man confirmed. "Your parents have hired me for a rather large sum of money to train you into the best fighter you can possibly be."

"Really?" Harry asked. "Do you mind telling me how I'm doing right now?"

"Decent." William replied. "I was actually expecting a complete amateur, not someone that actually knew what they were doing. You have skill and power, but you can be much, much more."

"Show me." Harry grinned. If he was only adequate right now, he could only imagine what he would be like when this man finished teaching him. William grinned wolfishly in response and summoned Harry's wand to him, which he then tossed back to its owner.

"Break my defense. No unforgivable." William responded, raising his wand and holding it in an easily maneuverable position. Harry had a feral grin on his face as he raised his wand and rained barrage upon barrage upon the man's seemingly unbreakable defenses. What was infuriating was that the man only rarely used shields, instead opting to dodge and deflect Harry's spells.

Harry began to get frustrated, something that caused his spells to become erratic, although they also gained power from his anger. Finally he lashed out one last time, his anger fueling his magic.

Several overpowered blasting curses erupted from the tip of his wand and slammed into the shields William was forced to put up. The silvery wall of magic stood strong, but it wasn't ready for Harry's trump card. A lance of ice burst from his hand, penetrating the shield and nearly hitting William.

The agile wizard twisted out of the way, allowing the lance to fizzle out as it slammed into the wall. William began to laugh and clap for Harry.

"Very good!" He said. "I wasn't expecting anything to get that close to me. How did you do it?"

"I don't know." Harry frowned. "I just got angry from not being able to hit you and the magic just happened."

"I understand now. I'm sure you know that your anger is what drives your wandless magic, correct?" William asked. Harry nodded in response. "Well, modern shields are designed explicitly for real magic – things from wands – not wandless magic. Wandless magic is rare as it is, and most of those that can utilize it effectively in a fight can't do real damage, so modern shields don't bother blocking it. It lacks the complexity and control that our shields block against."

Harry nodded in understanding.

"Well," William smiled, "do it again. This time with no wandless magic. And use your occlumency to reign in your emotions." Harry sent a surprised look at him, which William scoffed at. "Please, you don't even bother to project fake emotion that a skilled legilimens like myself would pick up. We'll be working on that later."

Although he was silently wondering just how many disciplines and obscure branches of magic William had mastered – he looked to be in his thirties at the latest – Harry raised his wand and controlled his emotions. He would beat William this time.

With that he lashed out, meeting the teacher head on.

Xx

"Again!" Shouted William, firing a triangle of bludgeoners at Harry. Harry smirked and let them reach him before he batted them away, sending them careening into the walls. William danced out of the way of the lone bludgeoner that was thrown back at him, sending a stream of flame at Harry.

He grinned and apparated at the last moment, reappearing directly behind his mentor. William reacted the second Harry disappeared, however, and sent a plume of flame throughout the empty room. Harry raised a shield, but it alerted his teacher to his presence. He barely leapt out of the way before a powerful cutting curse landed in his former location.

"Is that all you've got?" William roared happily, creating an inferno with the quick movements of his wrist. "I've fought Hogwarts alumni better than you!"

A bludgeoning curse to the face was his answer. William showed his mastery of magic by batting it away with a turn of his face before conjuring several large blocks of stone. They absorbed the spells that Harry sent at him while the apprentice apparated around the room.

Harry gritted his teeth as he was forced to cease his assault by the raging inferno. Even with his shields the heat was beginning to burn him. He forced magic into his off hand, despite the fact the intense glow would pierce through the flames and show William his position. When it had sufficient power, Harry forced a powerful gust of wind throughout the room. The flames were forced back, although William continued to stay in his position.

He grinned as William blocked his next few stunners – not serious attacks, but enough to tell what defenses his teacher had placed upon the slabs of stone – and formulated a strategy. With his wand he whispered an incantation and kept the winds spinning around the room, slowly growing in strength and speed.

When they were strong enough that William had been forced to apply sticking charms to keep from being knocked over, Harry acted. He kept the twister going and silently apparated a foot behind William. While William was distracted, he forced power into his offhand and punched at the powerful wizard.

William somehow knew he was there and dodged the powerful blow. One of the stone blocks swung towards Harry and would have knocked him unconscious had he not transfigured it into hundreds of tiny pebbles. His shield easily deflected the pebbles, and his wand hand flicked his wand towards William.

His teacher had been preparing his own attack when the pebbles launched towards him at an impossibly high speed. William's unnaturally fast reflexes kicked in and he apparated at the other side of the room. Harry only had a moment to dodge before a pressurized stream of water shot at his head.

He rolled to the side, conjuring a shield to protect him from the powerful attack. The water washed over the shield, which didn't waste power by deflecting the intense stream of water. Instead it spread the impact out over the glowing shield, lessening the damage.

Harry waited a few more moments, absorbing a dozen weak spells meant to cut through even the strongest of shields, before acting. He twisted his wand and forced the shield outwards. The magic absorbed by the shield launched outwards in an erratic manner before zoning in on William's location.

William smiled at the roaring wave of raw energy heading towards him before casting a spell at it, forcing the energy into a more focused form. When it drew near enough he flicked his wand upwards, making the powerful attack angle upwards into the ceiling. Harry took that moment to apparate again, launching weak bludgeoners and fire missile spells at his teacher each time he appeared at a new location.

Harry smiled as he saw William breathing hard. All wizards were physically superior to muggles, thanks to their magic strengthening and hardening their bodies – making them more durable, which is what allowed them to take the injuries from quidditch without dying – but magical power determined just how physically resilient one was. William was certainly on the higher end of the scale, and could compete with those stronger than him and easily win most of the time, but he couldn't keep up with Harry's raw power fuelling him.

He took advantage of William's exhaustion and pressed the attack, firing spells so fast that William couldn't let up his defense, and slowly grew closer. By the time he was near enough to finish the duel he was getting tired from the intense fight, although William looked even worse off.

When he was too close for William to block his spells, his teacher abandoned his defense and went on the offense. Harry was forced to shield against the bursts of fire his teacher was blasting at him, and had to roll out of the way when penetrating spells followed it. Finally, the constant barrage of spells stopped and Harry rolled out of the way one last time to be safe.

Suddenly, a hard fist impacted into his stomach. Harry coughed and fought down the urge to vomit, instead standing straight up and assuming a defensive position. William was tiring too fast to keep up any form of combat for long, meaning that this was his first real chance to actually win against his mentor in an all out fight.

The smoke created from William's fire was clearing, and Harry saw a fist flying towards his face. With speed he wouldn't have had when he first began training with William more than a year ago he batted it away with his glowing hand. William stumbled from the sheer force of the power behind Harry's hands, and the apprentice took full advantage of that to slam his offhand into William's side.

His teacher was knocked down from the force of the blow, and Harry moved to capitalize on William's temporary weakness. Harry aimed his wand at the other wizard and disarmed him, catching the thin length of wood in his offhand.

"Do you surrender?" He asked, taking a step back so that William couldn't try to kick his legs out from under him. Both wands were aimed at the fallen wizard, and his own was sparking menacingly.

William gave a pleased nod. He had a wide smile on his face, and when Harry accepted his surrender he leapt up and took his wand from Harry before giving his student a handshake.

"Great job!" He said excitedly. "I don't think I can teach you anything else."

"That's not true." Harry argued. "You can still easily beat me. I just got lucky. Besides, I'm sure there is some magic you haven't taught me yet."

"I was going all out." William said. "In fact, I've been doing so for a while. When we started a year and a half ago I knew you wouldn't take long to train, so I figured I might as well speed it up. Any magic I haven't taught you yet is the kind so archaic that it's useless in the modern world. For all intents and purposes, you're full trained."

Harry had been waiting for this moment for so long that he thought he would be thrilled right now. Instead, he found that he felt rather empty and disappointed. He liked William, so it would be a shame to see him go off, but that wasn't it. Perhaps he just wanted to learn more – even the Lestranges couldn't teach him some of the things William had.

"So," he muttered, "I guess you'll be going now?"

William nodded, although he had a hint of sadness in his eyes. "Yes. I've been absent from my world for too long and even with the money your parents gave me I need to work. Plenty of mercenary contracts are out there, and I need to make sure I haven't lost my edge. So…bye."

He frowned, but didn't stop the man as he withdrew the portkey Rodolphus had given him. Just before it activated, William turned back to Harry.

"I want a rematch one day." He called out as the portkey began to glow. "You'll know where to find me."

Harry just grinned back at him before his teacher disappeared. He would need to get some of his own experience in before that happened.

His thoughts were interrupted by the door that led to the rest of the house opened. Rodolphus walked in and looked around the room in amusement. Bellatrix followed, cackling madly as she saw the damage from the duel. Harry frowned at that. Bella seemed to be losing her grip on sanity lately, and she had been going on about her old days as a death eater a lot lately. Both he and Rodolphus were getting worried.

"I suppose that your training is complete?" Rodolphus asked. "William confided in me that you were nearing the end of it."

Harry nodded, unsure of why Rodolphus was telling him this. Normally Rodolphus would just ignore him or keep him on his toes with random curses. The man had to be up to something, probably a test for him. Perhaps he was even going to duel him himself, something that the man hadn't done since Harry started his training with William.

"Now that William is done with you," Rodolphus smirked, "I think it's time to see what if his price was worth it. Assume the position. You will be dueling both of us, and I expect you to last at least five minutes."

Harry understood and moved backwards, never taking his eyes off of the Lestranges. Bella was moving close to where Rodolphus was while the male Lestrange circled around Harry. He waited for them to make the first move, unsure of how he would fare against the both of them. Before his training he was nearing their level, although they might have been taking it easy on him.

It didn't matter now. He needed to focus on the fight.

Rodolphus made the first move. A sickly green curse flashed towards him – it looked a lot like the killing curse, but he had learned from William that there were spells meant to imitate unforgiveables that didn't actually do anything – so in a gamble he allowed it to hit him. Aside from a brief flash of heat that filled his body, nothing happened.

Bella took advantage of Rodolphus' attack to fire a powerful cutting curse at him. Harry batted it away with his left hand, noting the expression of awe on Bella's face before he moved into action. It was a good thing that they weren't allowed to witness his training, or else they might be prepared.

He made the next move, conjuring several medium sized boulders that hovered around him, moving to intercept any attack aimed at him. They easily caught Rodolphus' stunners and bludgeoner, allowing Harry to make a move against Bella. Harry made a complex motion with his wand that resulted in four bludgeoners flying towards Bella. The spells trapped her, and she was unable to dodge. Her shield was nearly shattered from the spells he sent at her, but he had much more than that at his disposal.

Harry continued to ignore the spells that Rodolphus was sending at him, despite their slowly increasing power. The Lestranges weren't putting up the fight that he was expecting; although he doubted it would be so easy were either of them able to use the lethal spells they were so adept with. Still, if he was allowed to use lethal spells they wouldn't have much of a chance either.

With another flourish of his wand, a wall of fire appeared in front of him and launched at Bellatrix. She dodged and used a shield to disperse any of it that still hit her, and began to send weak bludgeoners at him with short stabs of her wand. Harry noticed that her movements were becoming more and more erratic and she looked like she was on the verge of snapping.

Harry began to fight in earnest, sending one of his stones to slam into Bellatrix while he launched another wall of fire at her. She blocked the flames again, but didn't see the rock levitating towards her. It bypassed her shield since it was a physical attack and landed in her side. She was knocked down and looked to be in too much pain to continue fighting.

He capitalized on her weakness, sending four stunners at her to keep her down. The stone that hit her was levitated onto her chest to keep her from getting up if Rodolphus found a way to enervate her during the duel. Speaking of Rodolphus, the man was getting more and more aggressive. Sickly yellow curses that would take a layer of skin off the area it hit were becoming the norm, and some of his defensive rocks looked ready to crumble.

A wave of his wand restored them to decent condition, and he began to use the same technique he had against William just a few minutes ago. The twister was difficult to keep up at the best of times, and he realized that he had less than a minute with it before he would be nearly useless. Although he hadn't been exhausted by the battle with his teacher, his muscles were beginning to burn from the constant exhaustion.

Soon enough, however, the winds began to pick up and Rodolphus was thrown down by their force. He sent another one of his rocks at the fallen man, crushing him and keeping him from doing anything. Harry made sure it wouldn't be dangerous, but it still hurt enough to force the man to focus all his attention towards trying to banish the rock off his chest.

Harry disarmed him, catching the wand as it leapt towards him. He looked at the Lestranges in confusion. Was that the best they could do? They were some of the greatest duelists in Britain, and before she had entered Voldemort's service Bellatrix had competed on the national level and was feared for her brutality even then. Rodolphus had earned his experience as a death eater, and had been one of the most well-known auror killers in the Dark Lord's forces.

And he had just torn both of them apart within a few minutes. He hadn't expected them to be on William's level – the man was a champion in the dueling circuit for a reason, after all – but he hadn't expected to have such an easy time. They had years of experience on him, as well as being trained since an early age. Neither could match his raw power, but that shouldn't have mattered considering he was tired from the intense battle with William.

He was silent as he turned his stones back into air and helped the Lestranges back up. His mind was buzzing with disappointment and astonishment that he had defeated the two most feared fugitives of Britain so easily. They might have been handicapped, but they still had access to most nonlethal spells. Besides, he was just as handicapped – he was forced to limit the power of his spells, something he was never forced to do with William.

Rodolphus just looked at him strangely before walking out of the room, while Bellatrix was certainly more excited.

"Oh! My little Harrykins is all grown up." She cooed as she bounded over and wrapped him in a tight hug that made Harry distinctly uncomfortable. Bella wasn't known for physical displays of affection, and this was just another oddity that convinced him something had gone wrong with her.

He halfheartedly returned the hug and allowed his body to relax, despite the urge to recoil. Touching wasn't something he was used to. A few seconds later Bellatrix grinned madly and walked away, bounding out of the door excitedly.

Harry frowned and stared after her in confusion. Perhaps Rodolphus would know if something had happened to her.

Xx

He found himself outside the room Rodolphus had claimed for himself. Harry had only been in it several times, and found that it really was quite boring. Scribbled notes and marked maps covered the walls, although the desk was perfectly clean and organized. Most of it seemed to be the last known locations of fugitive death eaters and remaining safe houses. Nothing that he could really use, since most of Rodolphus' real information was in an enchanted folder that would incinerate him if he tried to read it.

Harry knocked on the door, and felt a wave of magic pass over him. It probably just identified him or keyed him into the extensive wards covering Rodolphus' "office", but it was definitely a new feature. He still waited for Rodolphus to tell him to enter, not wanting the man to send a stinging hex at him for his insolence.

The room was just as he remembered, but he didn't look at it much. Instead he walked over to the chair in front of the desk and scanned it for hexes or curses before sitting down. Rodolphus glared at him from the desk, raising an eyebrow at him in curiosity.

"I would like to know if something is wrong with Bellatrix." He stated. Rodolphus' glare left him and instead his mouth twisted in bitter amusement.

"Did you ever think there was something right with her?" Rodolphus said scathingly. "But there is. You see, I did a bit of magic on her to limit the depths of her insanity when we got you. I didn't want her attacking you before you could defend yourself, after all."

"Is whatever you did to her wearing off?" He asked nervously, wondering if the Bellatrix he knew was nothing but a product of magic and potions.

"It is." Rodolphus confirmed. "Unfortunately, I can't do anything else to her. Her mind is fragile as it is, and any more attempts to alter it could send her into raving insanity."

Harry frowned. "What can we do to help her?" He asked. "She might get bored and try to leave the house. Or she might do something that would reveal our presence."

"The best we can do," the older man said quietly, "is to keep her from doing something foolish. If I have to we will send her somewhere else and continue living in safety. Be prepared to venture out into the real world eventually, however, as I believe that she will snap soon. If she does so, we will be forced to bring her back as soon as possible and keep her from attacking anyone."

"I understand." He said coldly, not allowing any emotion into his voice.

"Then leave."

Harry did so, returning to the drab room he called his own. He collapsed onto the large bed and fell asleep, banishing the exhaustion that had finally overcome him.

Xx

It was a month later that Rodolphus found him. He was training and experimenting with new tricks when the man shouted for him to come to the entranceway. Harry did so, moving as fast as he could due to the uncharacteristic nervous tone in Rodolphus' voice. The cool, collected man rarely felt the need to shout, so it had to be important.

When Harry arrived, Rodolphus had gotten into a hooded robe that completely obscured his face in shadow. Bellatrix was nowhere to be seen, and Harry felt a sinking suspicion as to what this was about. He gripped his wand tightly and listened to Rodolphus as the dark man barked out orders.

"Find her and bring her back!" He shouted frantically, looking genuinely worried – the first time Harry had seen him exhibit such intense emotion. "I don't care what you have to do. I'll be searching for her in the market, you search the alleys. Don't let her hurt anyone."

Harry nodded and followed Rodolphus as he quietly opened the door. The sun was intense from their isolation, and he had to cover his eyes for a moment. By then Rodolphus had moved into the crowd of wizards and witches, searching for any sign of Bella.

He shrugged and slipped through the crowd, only getting a few annoyed glances in return. The alleys would be the most likely place for Bellatrix to attack someone, and Harry could see why Rodolphus gave him the job. Although Rodolphus was quite powerful and skilled, he wouldn't be able to apprehend Bella fast enough. She was just too unpredictable. Harry, however, was too fast for her. He could stun her before she knew what was happening.

It took five minutes of searching through the dirty alleys, but he finally heard someone screaming in French as well as Bellatrix's familiar insane cackling. He took off for her, easily navigating through the crowds attracted by the screams. Harry discretely gave the magicals an urge to leave and forget about this place as he passed them, and when he finally got to the alley he placed a silencing charm around it. The less bystanders the better.

Bellatrix's cackles were explained when he saw her. She was leveling her wand at a small girl, although he could only see the glistening of silver hair from her. Harry growled when he saw that she was using the cruciatus, and apparated behind her. She screamed in fury as he disarmed her, and her eyes were dark and hazy in her insanity.

Harry wasted no time in stunning her, although he looked at the girl before he left. She was, as strange a thought as it was, adorable. He was confused as to why such a thought would enter his mind until he put the pieces together. The girl had silvery hair and blue eyes and strangely affected his thoughts. She had to be a veela or part veela.

That didn't matter, however. He put a sleeping charm on her and healed several of the cuts Bellatrix had inflicted upon her with simple curses. Harry spied the body of a short, portly man on the ground and figured that it was the girl's relative. He was clearly dead, and his body was drenched with blood.

Harry grimaced, wondering what kind of curse Bella had used on the man. He suddenly felt his silencing charms be broken, and he quickly grabbed his quarry and apparated back into the house. Whoever it was would be able to help the girl better than he could.

Rodolphus was in the entrance hall with his wand out. He leveled it at Harry, but when he saw that Bellatrix was with him he put it down.

"Did she attack anyone?" Rodolphus hissed. Harry nodded.

"She used the cruciatus on a little girl." He explained. "A man's body was in the alleyway with her, and it looks like she used a very, very dark curse on him. We need to leave. The aurors will be searching the area for any hidden homes and I doubt the Malfoys were willing to pay much for these wards."

Rodolphus nodded and grabbed the stunned Bellatrix. She was still unconscious, and he held her up while he waved his wand a few times. Several small trunks that looked as though they could barely hold more than a few outfits zoomed into the room, bursting with supplies and important notes.

He had several smooth stones that he began to turn into portkeys. Rodolphus had just finished the last one when Harry felt the wards being torn down. The older man looked at him and threw him a portkey.

Harry carefully caught it and bent his knees as his body was suddenly buffeted by powerful winds. He landed heavily on a familiar lawn, but didn't fall down. A few seconds later he was joined by Rodolphus, who still carried an unconscious Bellatrix.

Malfoy Manor was the same as it had been last time he was here, more than a year ago. Rodolphus shook him out of his thoughts and motioned for him to follow him. They had barely set foot on the stone entryway before the large door that led into the manor slammed open.

Lucius Malfoy glared at them in annoyance. His wand was in his hand, and Harry saw Narcissa behind him. She had her wand aimed carefully at Rodolphus. It was barely visible in the darkness. Harry noticed that neither even bothered with him, likely believing him to be much less skilled than Rodolphus.

"How dare you return here!" Lucius snarled. It was a stark contrast to his smooth manner the last time Harry had seen him. "You put my family at risk simply by being near us. Begone!"

"We need help." Rodolphus snarled back. "Give us a day of safety and we will never return to this place again."

The Malfoy patriarch continued glaring at Rodolphus, but acquiesced to his request.

"Come in. You will be returned to the panic room you were at previously, and I will send food to you later. If you so much as use magic while here I will banish you from my wards."

Rodolphus smirked at his victory and entered, closely followed by Harry. The older man passed the inert body of Bellatrix to Harry, who was forced to carry her. She was surprisingly heavy, and the strain of keeping her from falling kept him from listening to the Malfoys and Rodolphus talk.

Soon enough they were at the safe room. Bellatrix was put into a bed and Lucius stunned her again at Rodolphus' request. Neither of them were interested in a rampaging Bellatrix awakening at such a sensitive time, it appeared.

Harry sat in a chair and worked ways out to escape from the manner. He didn't trust the Malfoys, and expected them to stab them in the back somehow. Besides, it was always best to be prepared. Soon he decided he had a halfway competent plan and began to question Rodolphus.

"How close did the aurors get?"

"Several of them got a good look at Bellatrix and I. British aurors are probably already swarming the area. France won't be safe for a few years." Rodolphus grimaced. "And I expect our Ministry is sweeping every former death eater safe house."

He nodded in understanding. They were silent for a long time, merely staring blankly around them. Harry wasn't sure how their peaceful existence had been destroyed so fast, all because of Bellatrix. For the first time he felt a spike of anger towards her, but quickly suppressed it. Now wasn't the time for anger or blame. Bella was disturbed right now, and couldn't help what she did.

Harry pondered the possible outcomes of this scenario for the next hour, silently wondering if they would ever get such a safe place again. He had enjoyed it much more than the constant running throughout eastern Europe, seeing the sights and fighting off any threats. Travelling turned dangerous rather quickly, and he had enjoyed the reprieve.

Perhaps – his thoughts were cut off by the door opening. Lucius stood in the doorway, and called them out. Rodolphus nodded to him, but as Harry stood up to retrieve Bellatrix the man slipped something into his pocket. Harry was too well-trained to react to it at all, but resolved to check it later. For now he picked Bella up, although Rodolphus took her from him.

They followed Lucius back to the main hall, where Harry felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Someone was watching them. Rodolphus could feel it as well, and Harry saw him put his hand on his wand.

He already had his out, albeit hidden in his robe. It was out in a flash as a dozen crimson-robed aurors suddenly appeared, throwing their invisibility cloaks to the ground. Harry didn't make a move, instead analyzing his surroundings and finding their positions. His other hand slipped into his robe and found whatever it was that Rodolphus had put into it.

The moment he touched it he felt the magic suffuse his form, whisking it away from the manor. He heard the sound of a body falling to the floor, and the last sight he saw was the familiar crimson of a stunner streaking towards him.

Harry was dazed when he landed in a dark forest. Despite being able to see the sun through cracks in the thick canopy, it barely penetrated it. A few hundred feet away a small cabin that he vaguely remembered stood, looking worn and shabby from the elements.

He carefully approached it, but the sound of someone appearing via portkey behind him forced him to take cover and aim his wand at the sound's source. His wand lowered when he realized it was just Rodolphus, but he was wary of anyone who might have followed him.

Rodolphus didn't bother saying anything to him as he pushed past him; the dark man's face was a cruel mask that promised death, although not to him. Harry didn't even look at him for fear of the man's wrath. He carefully followed Rodolphus into the cabin. When they entered, his guardian grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed him into the wall. Harry discretely aimed his wand at the man's stomach, but didn't react.

"We are going to get her back, do you hear me?" He snarled, losing all of his normal composure. "Then we are going to put that bastard Malfoy's head on a pike and show it to the entire Wizarding World."

Harry nodded, trying to not to agitate the man further. He hadn't known that Rodolphus valued Bellatrix so much given his icy demeanor. Rodolphus released him and moved to the center of the small shack that Harry remembered as being Fenrir Greyback's.

"I'm going to Diagon Alley." He said tightly, turning back so he could look at Harry. "The Prophet will have printed about her capture. Be ready to fight when I come back."

The younger wizard nodded and watched as Rodolphus vanished with a small pop. He turned towards the property and noticed that the wards had disintegrated years ago. Harry shrugged and began warding the area, using simple spells that would keep muggles and animals away. Traps could come later.

Xx

Rodolphus returned several hours later. He held a tattered copy of the Daily Prophet in one hand and had a short auror by the neck with his other. Harry stunned the squirming auror before backing away from Rodolphus, not wanting to agitate the enraged man.

He took the Prophet from Rodolphus, looking curiously at the slightly torn and dirty paper. Its headline made him growl in annoyance.

"Bellatrix Lestrange captured by Lucius Malfoy! Malfoy to be awarded the Order of Merlin?"

Below the headline in smaller letters read: "Rodolphus Lestrange escapes custody. Teenager spotted with the duo."

Fortunately the aurors hadn't caught a picture of him, although one of Rodolphus in his Hogwarts years had been posted. The younger Rodolphus smirked devilishly at him, his eyes cold even then. Harry continued to read the headline, and saw that Bellatrix had been sent to Azkaban for now. Apparently the Wizengamot would be holding her trial in a few days.

A scream tore his attention away from the article. He looked over at the awakened auror with annoyance. The man was rather unimpressive, and didn't look as though he could have passed the physical requirements to join the Auror Corps.

Rodolphus had grabbed the man painfully by his throat and had his wand aimed at the auror's groin. Harry winced, realizing what Rodolphus must have threatened him with. Nevertheless, he paid close attention to the first question his mentor asked.

"Hello, Dawlish." He hissed, tightening his grip on the auror's throat. The small man's struggles began to weaken as Rodolphus sent a stinging hex at him. "You're going to tell us how to get into Azkaban."


	4. Chapter Four: Banishment

A/N: Another big update in one day! I hope everyone enjoys it, although the end isn't particularly plot-relevant. Hopefully this doesn't seem too rushed. Read and Review.

Harry didn't like this plan. Rodolphus had extracted all of the necessary information from Dawlish through a variety of unpleasant methods before brutally killing the man and dumping his corpse in the middle of Diagon Alley. His mentor clearly wasn't thinking straight, as the aurors had to know that Rodolphus was planning something now.

Either way, it didn't really matter. He had to go to get Bellatrix from Azkaban and hopefully keep Rodolphus from getting captured as well. And since the greatest defense Azkaban possessed were dementors – beings whose effects could be partially negated by skill with occlumency – breaking into the famed prison wasn't as hard as most thought it would be.

The manipulation of dementors was what Harry's part of the plan depended upon. He didn't know the patronus charm, so his only way to avoid getting his soul sucked out by the monsters was to avoid detection. That was where his mastery of occlumency came in. He was thankful to William for forcing him to master the art, instead of just relying on better-than-average shields. It would make all the difference in this mission.

Dementors were one of the most feared beings on the planet thanks to their powerful abilities. They detected creatures by their emotions, the key part of their plan. Harry would be able to move undetected around them so long as he kept his mind blank and hidden from their metaphysical gaze.

Harry didn't trust it, however. Rodolphus wasn't acting with the cold logic he'd instilled into Harry, and was allowing his emotions to cloud his judgment. While Harry had no doubt in his ability to complete his mission, he expected the Ministry to lay a trap for them, or at the very least have a strengthened force at Azkaban.

Nevertheless, he waited on the cold shores of eastern Scotland with his irrational mentor. Rodolphus was pacing, an action that caused the disillusionment charms they had placed on each other to ripple and allow observant guards to notice them. Harry snarled at Rodolphus and forced him into their cover.

Rodolphus snarled back and Harry thought the man was about to curse him for a moment. He readied his own wand to stun his mentor, although it proved to be unneeded. The older man remained behind the large boulders, quietly talking to himself.

Harry looked at him nervously, wondering if whatever magic he had done to Bellatrix to keep her sane had somehow loosened his own grasp on reality. Rodolphus was acting far too strangely for it to be natural. He shrugged it off, however, instead focusing on the small wooden boat that was docking at a pier several dozen feet away.

"Rodolphus," he whispered, "get ready. The boat's arrived."

He and Rodolphus waited for the sailor of the boat to get out before they made their move. Harry slowly crept towards the old man and the guards stationed at a small boat house, his disillusionment charm hiding him from their eyes. Just as he entered optimal range for stunners, Rodolphus sprang into action.

With a feral roar the older man revealed his presence and erratically hurled killing curses at the guards. Several impacted the ground around the previously bored guards, while most simply continued streaking into the sky. Only one hit its target.

Harry hissed in annoyance as Rodolphus broke his cover but backed him up. He stunned the two men that Rodolphus had missed, dropping them to the ground. Next he stunned Rodolphus. If aurors had been stationed here than they would both be dead from his idiocy. When potentially fighting against aurors, it was best to err on the side of caution. Rodolphus had just trampled that cardinal rule of dark wizards into the ground and tore it into tiny pieces.

The two men that were stunned were easy enough to kill. Avada Kedavra killed them cleanly and painlessly. When they were dead Harry transfigured the corpses into large mounds of pebbles that he cast into the sea. No one needed to know the dead men were gone yet.

Next he brought Rodolphus back. They put on the dead mens' clothes before walking towards the boat. While they were entering the boat that was enchanted to take them to Azkaban within just a few minutes he scolded the man.

"Rodolphus, breaking into Azkaban was your foolish idea. You made this plan, so the least you can do is stick by it." Harry said angrily, glaring at the man. Normally he wouldn't have dreamed of raising his voice to Rodolphus or disrespecting him, but this idiotic fool of a man wasn't his Rodolphus.

Rodolphus simply glared back but grudgingly nodded. Harry decided that was the best he would get out of him and forced his attention to the churning waves. He was amazed they didn't simply swamp the boat and drag them down into the abyss, but the wonders of magic could seemingly avert any sort of basic logic.

The waters of the North Sea were rushing past them at a speed no muggle boat could reach, and Harry could already see the massive fortress steadily getting closer. Both of the boat's inhabitants gripped their wands tightly as the boat increased in speed, quickly entering the prison's dock.

A lone auror met them, not appearing to notice anything off about them. Just to be sure Harry met his eyes and discretely used legilimency against him. He was satisfied when he detected nothing but boredom from the lonely auror.

He and Rodolphus walked by the auror silently, doubting the oppressive atmosphere of Azkaban allowed very much idle chatter. As they left the dock and entered into the main fortress, he recounted the directions they would need to take. Rodolphus had practically torn the man's mind to pieces in his attempts to glean the necessary information, so it would likely be accurate.

Rodolphus suddenly stopped, forcing Harry to turn back to him.

"What is it?" Harry growled, unwilling to waste any time. Every moment was another that the Ministry could use to lay a trap.

"I can't go in there." Rodolphus explained, seeming the sanest he had since Bella was captured. The former death eater also seemed _nice_, something that Harry never expected from the feared Lestrange. "My occlumency shields just aren't strong enough. You go in and find Bellatrix and I'll start eliminating any guard that gets in the way."

Harry didn't like this deviation from the plan – Rodolphus was supposed to be his backup and hold off any aurors, not attack them – but acquiesced. The plan was terrible enough as it was, and denying Rodolphus a chance to mess it up during the most crucial part of the mission was a boon for him.

He continued into the fortress, ignoring the lone guards he passed. They seemed to be shivering despite the glowing patronus that stood by each of their sides. Harry wished he could have one, simply because the air began to feel warm by them. Although the mental effects of the dementors were blocked by occlumency the physical effects of their presence remained.

There was only one guard between him and the cells. Harry didn't bother trying to talk his way past the guard, instead killing him with the avada kedavra and taking his key ring. He transfigured the body into a small bone before kicking it to the corner of the dark room.

He used the largest key on the chain to unlock the magically sealed door and entered Hell.

Entering the cell block of Azkaban was by far the worst experience in all of his fourteen years of life. The air suddenly turned icy and fog filled the long corridor. Several dementors stood in front of the cells, draining the emotions and life from the inhabitants. They ignored him, unable to even detect him through the powerful shields he forced into being.

Harry took small glances into the cells as he passed them, looking at the tiny spaces in disgust. Their inhabitants were even worse. They were all pathetically skinny and weak, with their heads being disproportionately large in comparison to their bodies. Lank, oily hair obscured most of their faces, although the ones that weren't being fed on pathetically crawled towards him with skinny arms and legs.

He ignored their hoarse pleas for mercy, instead keeping his eyes straight ahead. Bellatrix would be on this level since she would be on trial in just a few days. They wouldn't put her in the truly horrific levels of Azkaban until later, hoping that she would stay relatively clean until trial. The Ministry wouldn't want someone seeing what Azkaban did to the truly unlucky offenders, after all.

It took all of his concentration to stave off the dementors' influence. Their terrifying aura prodded at his shields, trying to dismantle them and feed on his emotions. Even if the dementors didn't know he was there, their auras were still draining for him to hold back.

Finally, however, he found Bellatrix. Her long hair was dirty and unkempt, but otherwise she looked fine. As she turned her head upwards to glare at him he realized that she held the unmistakable signs of physical abuse. Bruises and small cuts littered her face, and had it not been for her distinctive hair he wouldn't have recognized her.

He used the key with her cell number on it to open the door and tried to get close to her to give her comfort. The moment she saw his face her mouth twisted into a sneer and she looked at him in disgust.

"How dare you try to touch me, you filthy half-blood!" She screamed; all traces of sanity gone. "The Dark Lord will crush you when I find him, and he will reward us for finding you!"

Harry recoiled, his face twisting in hurt. His occlumency shields dropped from the shock of Bella – the closest thing he'd ever had to a _mother_ – speaking to him like that. He quickly regained his focus, and gazed at Bella impassively. The pain of her words still showed in his eyes.

"Don't you recognize me?" He asked quietly. "You've taught me almost everything I know! You're my parent!"

"Does wittle Harrykins _love _Bella?" She cackled, twisting her form of endearment into an insult. Bellatrix suddenly seemed to regain sanity for a moment and glared at him with hateful eyes. "You don't know me, little half-blood. Roddy," she said with venom in her voice, reverting to her childlike nicknames, "_twisted_ my mind, made me _love_ a filthy half-blood like yourself!"

Harry gritted his teeth, realizing the full depths to which Rodolphus had sunk. That didn't stay for long. The fact remained that he had never known Bella, that she had been a fake. The true Bellatrix was this hateful bitch.

"But I'm going to twist his mind…" Bellatrix mumbled. "I'm going to twist it until it snaps! Then he'll learn his real lesson. Maybe I'll pluck out his eyes and make the filthy half-blood eat him. He'll learn what a real cruciatus feels like…"

His mouth twisted into a snarl and he stunned her. He was stunned at the revelation that everything he had experienced with Bella for the past six years was just a result of a mind twisted by legilimency. The woman that had taught him how to duel and had practically raised him into who he was today was a lie.

Harry glared at her inert body, fighting down the wild desire to boil her blood in her veins. He couldn't kill her. Perhaps there was a way to get his Bella back. She had never had a strong grip on sanity anyways, so maybe it wouldn't matter if he pushed too hard with legilimency.

Yes, he could –

Blackness overcame him and he fell into unconsciousness.

Xx

He awoke in some sort of hospital. His wrists were chained to his bed, but the gloves he had worn to cover the glowing of his hands whenever he used magic were still there. The room he was in looked to be made of thick blocks of stone, although a large window allowed moonlight to stream in.

Harry was formulating an escape plan when a set of doors he could see in the corner of his eye opened. Several figures entered the room, although it was the one leading them that caught his interest. The lead figure entered his vision, allowing Harry to make out details.

It was certainly a he. The man was very thin and tall, and looked to have a very long beard. He walked over and stood in front of Harry, and he could make out bright blue eyes and a crooked nose. Those characteristics were unmistakable, belonging to the wizard that was feared as the most powerful protector of Britain.

Albus Dumbledore.

"I see that you are awake." He said kindly, although Harry could detect the steel underlying it. "Now, I am afraid that we have never been introduced. May I know your name?"

"You could tell me why I'm here first. And then you could release me. Then I'm sure we could work out an arrangement." Harry said, although he made sure to keep his tone relatively respectful. He might as well try and not make an instant enemy out of the ancient man.

"Ah, the insolence of youth." Dumbledore chuckled. "But I suppose your first request isn't too harmful. You're here because it isn't every day a child is found in Azkaban. I'm afraid I can't allow you leave quite yet. I have many questions."

Harry nodded slowly. "We're in Hogwarts, I presume?"

The ancient wizard nodded.

"Ask your questions, but first tell me what happened to Rodolphus." Harry sighed. He was in an incriminating position, after all, and he doubted the Ministry knew he was here. Dumbledore had all the power here, and it was useful to resist.

Dumbledore looked surprised at his acceptance of the situation and looked to one of the tall figures behind him. "The veritaserum, Severus?" Before the man could step forward, Dumbledore answered his last question. "He is in Azkaban, awaiting trial with Bellatrix. You cannot save them, I'm afraid."

Harry obediently opened his mouth, despite the twinge of anger as he heard Rodolphus' fate, as the hospital bed angled upwards, allowing the potion to enter his throat. He was glad they chose veritaserum. It was slightly easier to manipulate than some truth potions. And even better for him they only used two drops. Three would have made this much more difficult.

"A mere precaution." Dumbledore said as he poured it down his throat. "We need to have the full truth, after all. Simply nod when you are ready."

He nodded and allowed the interrogation to begin. Dumbledore stared into his eyes, and Harry realized that the man would be double-checking his answers. Apparently he didn't completely trust in potions' infallibility. Harry adjusted his occlumency shields accordingly, projecting appropriate emotion where it was required.

"What is your name?"

"Hadrian Crux Lestrange." He responded blankly, the words forced from his mouth. Simply presenting an alternate truth would hide the truth he didn't want getting out, as the identity was no less true for him.

Dumbledore looked surprised for a moment before continuing, although he didn't allow any of his shock into his voice. Harry thought he saw a slight hint of suspicion in his eyes before the ancient wizard wiped it away.

"What were you doing in Azkaban?"

"I was attempting to free Bellatrix Lestrange."

"How old are you?"

"Fourteen."

Dumbledore looked satisfied with the answer, although he had a troubled look on his face. He was probably about to start asking the real questions.

"How did you and Rodolphus Lestrange get into Azkaban?"

"We neutralized the guards and took the boat."

"How did you avoid the dementors without a patronus?"

Harry felt a brief surge of panic before he quashed it. This was a question that he couldn't twist.

"Occlumency."

The old wizard frowned. "Thank you for assistance, Mr. Lestrange. I will be back tomorrow. For now I need to think about what to do with you."

He just nodded, silently waiting for Dumbledore to leave. Escaping shouldn't be too hard so long as Dumbledore didn't interfere. The ancient wizard wouldn't have put too tight of security around him, since he likely believed Harry was just above average.

"Nymphadora, could you please stand guard over Mr. Lestrange? Don't let anybody in or out."

One of the figures behind Dumbledore nodded and gave a salute. Dumbledore and that other man – Severus Snape, was it? – left. Harry looked around the room for a moment before sighing in boredom.

"I remember you." Nymphadora said. "You were at the raid we did on that death eater compound weren't you? You killed good men that day."

"Oh, yes." He said, his mind going back to the raid. "You were the one that levitated me up, weren't you? That was rather fun. By the way," he grinned, "you should probably know that I still bite."

She glared at him, her pink hair transforming into a vibrant red. He noticed that she wouldn't meet his eyes yet. It looked like he would have to anger her a lot more before he could make his escape.

"Do you even remember the men you killed? We lost four of them."

Harry yawned, trying to goad the woman into meeting his eyes. It was rather fun to act so obnoxious. Perhaps he would have to do it more often if he ever got captured.

"Sorry, princess. That was just another Tuesday for me."

Nymphadora finally lost her composure when he dismissed the deaths of her coworkers. She glared at him, finally meeting his eyes. It was then that Harry struck, using all of his talent in legilimency to delve into her mind as painfully as he could. The force of her anger wasn't nearly strong enough to keep him out, and he found himself flashing through random memories. He only saw glimpses, but the recklessness in his mental attack had caused unbearable pain for her.

She was in too much agony to scream, but the overwhelming pain eventually forced her unconscious. The only sound in the infirmary was a small thunk as her body hit the floor. Harry grinned and forced all of his hatred and rage – most of it came from his memories of the true Bellatrix – to the surface.

He forced it into reality, and the chains that bound him to the bed were simply melted by silver flames. Unfortunately his gloves were destroyed by the magic; leaving his luminescent hands open to the world. It didn't matter, since Nymphadora was the only one that could see them. And she was in a bit too much pain for that to happen.

Harry carefully got out of the bed, ignoring the slight pain that resulted from his lack of blood flow. The aches weren't too bad, but they were an annoyance. He didn't kill Tonks, not wanting Dumbledore to see him as a true threat. If that happened he wouldn't survive long.

The young wizard ignored the writhing woman on the floor, instead focusing on the wand that his captors had laid on a small tray. He was astounded at their carelessness and idiocy – really, who left a wand where their imprisoned owner could easily get to it? – before picking it up. Although he would have to get it checked for any charms later, it would work fine for now.

He stunned Nymphadora to put her out of her misery – a sign to Dumbledore that he didn't kill for fun – and walked over to the window. There was no way he would find his way out of the castle if he tried to go through it, and if he did try it would put him at risk of running across more of Dumbledore's people.

Instead, he went the much riskier way. He applied sticking charms to his hands and one foot before putting his wand in his mouth. It was dangerous, but he couldn't think of a better way out. Even they wouldn't be foolish enough to put a broom or other flying device in his room.

Harry carefully climbed down the side of Hogwarts, steadfastly refusing to look down aside from the glance that confirmed he could go straight down without falling. This was by far the most dangerous stunt he had pulled, and it was going to require both concentration and luck to pull off.

The stones were surprisingly smooth, and he was never scraped or hurt by them. It was odd, but he just chalked it up to magic. Harry carefully continued the climb until he was only a few feet above the soft green lawn of Hogwarts. He was beginning to tire from the constant sticking charms he had to apply to his hands and feet to keep from falling, and he was quite glad that he wouldn't have to use anymore. Now he just had to get far enough away from the castle to apparate.

From the Lestranges' stories about Hogwarts that they had told him just in case he was captured by Dumbledore and brought there, the Forbidden Forest was the first area he could apparate from. Portkeys apparently worked anywhere in it, although the Lestranges had told him not to depend on them.

So he set off to the barely visible forest. The only light was from the moon, and a quick disillusionment charm rendered him barely visible. Harry was nearing the border into the woods when he heard someone moving. He looked in the direction of the noise and barely dodged a stunner.

Harry withdrew his wand and quickly conjured his slabs of stone before applying a night eye charm. The night was suddenly as bright as day, and he could see several men in front of him, each raising their wands.

"Lestrange!" A voice he recognized as Moody's called out. "You can't beat us. Put down the wand and don't resist. And don't try that damn trick you did last time or I'll have to put you down for real."

He didn't say anything back, but cast a homenum revelio. The three in front of him were his only enemies. Good, that meant he just had to fight them off before Dumbledore arrived.

The younger wizard didn't have to wait long before three stunners flashed towards him. Their intense light hurt his charmed eyes, but he allowed his stones to block them before responding. Harry leapt into action, forcing three long whips of flame to emerge from his wand and snap towards the three wizards.

His whips tore through the protegos the men conjured, shattering the shields and wrapping around his enemies. Mad-Eye resisted and destroyed the whip trying to grab him, but the others weren't so skilled. The whips encompassed their bodies, searing into their flesh painfully before yanking them towards Harry.

Harry let them draw closer before going in for the kill. He didn't want to, not when it would set Dumbledore after him, but escape was more important. A bludgeoner crushed one's chest before he moved to the next one.

As Harry prepared to cut the man in half with an overpowered cutting curse, one of his levitating slabs of stone were turned into dust. He wasted no time and killed the man pulled towards him before turning back to Moody. The old man was slowly walking towards him, hurling powerful blasting curses at Harry's defenses.

Harry didn't bother with a fancy spell chain or elemental spell. He allowed the man to grow just a little bit closer before he moved. His wand cut through the air as he yelled out "Voragus!"

A small chasm erupted underneath Moody. The older wizard growled in annoyance before simply levitating himself out before he hit the bottom and looked for Harry.

Harry, however, had taken the short break to escape. He was only a few feet away from the Forbidden Forest by the time Moody had gotten out. The older wizard had no chance to get him now that he was so far away.

Despite the fact that few spells would hit him from such a long distance, the former auror continued to throw stunners at Harry. They all went horribly off course, and Harry laughed as he finally entered the safe zone. He apparated away the second he felt the powerful wards of Hogwarts shrink away, and heard Moody's cry of rage before he was warped away to his new location.

Xx

Harry found himself in a crowded bar in Knockturn Alley. He had been here several times and knew that it was too dangerous for an auror to even think of entering. Magical creatures and dark wizards as well as other assorted lowlifes were the bar's main demographics, and he noticed that they looked curiously at him as he appeared in their midst.

The bartender seemed to recognize him, but didn't say anything as a hulking werewolf walked towards him. He was flanked by another werewolf and a small, ratlike man. Harry gazed impassively at them, waiting to see what they wanted. If they thought he was easy prey…well, he would just have to fix that perception.

Soon the werewolf had pushed through the bar's other patrons and stood a mere foot away from him. Harry wrinkled his nose as the werewolf's breath hit him. Aside from the dirt and sweat that pervaded his nose, the man's breath smelled like fetid, rotting meat.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" The werewolf said in a deceptively kind voice. "A little sheep that wandered away from home, perhaps? It would be a shame if a wolf got you."

"Back off, mutt." Harry snarled, rolling his eyes at the werewolf's dramatics. The hulking man growled at him, a powerful noise that attracted the rest of the patrons' attention.

"Don't talk like that to me you filthy little wizard!" The werewolf hissed. "You can't even use magic yet, so don't think that you're better than me. Besides," he said, looking around at the assorted creatures, "you won't find any help here."

"I don't need help." Harry responded. The anger that was building up in him since Azkaban was about to break his composure, and he found himself itching for a fight. "Not with a mongrel like you."

The werewolf grinned, showing teeth that had been filed down to points. Without warning, he launched a powerful punch at Harry. He grinned and caught it with his silver hand, the magic in it strengthening him beyond anything the mutt could achieve.

His foe's grin dropped in astonishment as Harry caught his fist, only to vanish completely when Harry stared into his eyes. All of a sudden the werewolf found himself screaming on the ground as Harry brutally tore into his mind.

Harry gave him one last kick before walking away, the anger finally gone. The other patrons stared at him in confusion before helping the massive werewolf up. He had a feral grin on his face as he walked up to the bartender. It was nice to be able to do anything he wanted, completely unrestrained and in control for once.

"Can you check this for me?" He said, handing his wand to the bartender. "I think someone's trying to track me."

The bartender nodded and cast a series of diagnostic charms on the holly wand. It surprisingly came up with nothing, and the grizzled man handed his wand back.

"Nothing. What happened to your parents, kid? I heard about Bellatrix but I thought you and Roddy escaped."

"We had a…falling out." Harry said bitterly, ignoring the idiocy of discussing it in public. "Can you get me to France, preferably inside of the best place to find mercenaries? I'm not safe here."

"Sure, kid." The bartender said before frowning. "I can get you a portkey in a few minutes, but it'll cost you."

Harry mentally cursed, but he resolved to find a way to get out of it. His mind flickered to some of the "jobs" the Lestranges had done for the bartender. The man was surprisingly powerful for his job, and practically ran this section of the Alley.

"I know that my parents would have done a few jobs without pay, specifically so they could call in a favor. I'm calling that debt in."

"Alright." The bartender smirked. "Wait here for a few minutes. I should be able to get a portkey for you. Then you can run off to France and do whatever it is you people do."

The bartender called in a replacement, and Harry took a seat. His hand tightly gripped his wand, and he almost hoped that someone would try to pick a fight with him again. It had turned out to be a great stress reliever.

Unfortunately, the bartender returned before that happened. He had a small sock in his left hand, and he threw it over to Harry. Although he didn't fully trust the man, he had to use it if he wanted to stay safe.

"Just say portus." The man advised. Harry nodded his thanks before using the portkey. A moment later he found himself trapped in a whirlwind before landing heavily on his feet.

Harry found himself in the middle of another rowdy bar, although this time the chatter was replaced with French. He made his way to the bartender here, who was a pretty woman with short blonde hair.

"Aren't you a little young to be here?" She said in French as he neared. "We don't serve minors."

Harry just grinned as charmingly as he could. "I'm not here to drink. But could you tell me where the mercenaries are? I'm looking for a friend of the family."

The woman nodded cautiously and pointed him over to the far corner of the small room. He thanked her and walked over, eying it carefully. A dozen wizards were sitting there, joking and drinking together. They looked up at him curiously, some looking as though they wanted to laugh.

"What do you want?" One of them said politely in French, unsure of whether Harry was representing someone that had a contract.

"I'm looking for William Walus." Harry responded; smirking as they all widened their eyes in confusion.

"And what do you want with him?" The same man asked. "He doesn't do amateur contracts. So unless you have real business, scram."

"I'm not hiring him." Harry growled, stepping closer. He noticed that their eyes were suddenly drawn to the hand holding his wand. "He was my teacher and I need his help."

The men burst into laughter, causing the younger wizard to frown in annoyance. One of them nearly coughed up his beer from laughing so hard.

"What's so funny?"

"Walus wouldn't teach a little run like you." The same man chortled. "Hell, he doesn't even teach any of us. His prices are so outrageous and his standards are so high that no one can keep up with him. Now get lost. Unless…" the man grinned, "you think you can prove that he taught you."

Harry grinned back, gripping his wand tightly. This would be fun. He prepared for anything that the man could throw at him.

"Rico, Wilkins," the man said, "make sure our spells don't damage this fine establishment. And runt, no lethal spells. Any damage comes onto our tab."

He nodded and waited for the man to get up. The moment he could defend himself Harry launched into action, sending a flurry of stunners and bludgeoners at the mercenary. Surprisingly the man defended himself, albeit with difficulty, and launched a streak of sickly yellow light at him.

Harry batted it away as it neared him and flicked his wand upwards. A bludgeoner appeared beneath the man's legs and hit him in the groin. The other mercenaries laughed as his opponent fell over from the pain, dropping his wand and leaving him defenseless.

A quick stunner put the man out of the fight, although he used an enervate on him a moment later. One of the other men helped his foe up, although they were still chortling.

"Do you believe me now?" Harry asked. The mercenary just groaned and used a numbing spell. When his pain had vanished he looked back at Harry.

"I believe you." He wheezed. "Not because you beat me, but because you knocked that cutter away. That's Champion level dueling right there. Only William ever really managed to teach people how to do that."

"Now where is he?" Harry questioned, losing his patience. The fight was fun, but he needed William's help. He was tired; he had been in several fights in the last…twenty four hours? He didn't even know how long Dumbledore had kept him. William was the only person he could go to, and he didn't need this idiot delaying him.

"He just walked in." The mercenary grinned. Harry turned around only to see that the man spoke the truth. William had just entered the bar and was looking over at them. His dark eyes widened when he saw Harry and he rushed over.

"Harry?" He exclaimed, his Scottish accent rising up due to his shock. "What're you doing here?"

"I can't tell you here." Harry said, nodding at the other mercenaries. William nodded back.

He turned towards the other mercenaries. "Bugger off! I'll talk to you idiots later."

The mercenaries got up, although they grumbled and jeered at William as they left. William sat in the newly unoccupied booth, motioning for Harry to sit across from him.

"Now," William said, folding his hands in front of him, "why are you here? This isn't exactly a good place for a teenager to be, no matter the amount of training you've received."

"My parents and I had a…falling out." Harry answered, unwilling to tell the man of his parents' true identities. William might not care too much about laws, but he had a strong moral code that the Lestranges had undoubtedly violated many times over.

"What happened?"

Harry just shrugged back at him. His teacher got the message and dropped the subject for now.

"Anyways, you're the only person I could think of, so I just tracked you down. I remembered you were going into mercenary work again, so I just went to the best place to find mercenaries in France. Do you know somewhere I can stay?"

William frowned, but eventually nodded. "I don't actually have a home." He admitted. "But I could talk to the owner of this place and see if they would let you stay here. Do you have any money?"

He shook his head. Rodolphus would have been the one to have any of their money, and he had never confided in Harry as to where he had stored it. And even if he had access he doubted there would be much. They were forced to steal most of their things to begin with, and Rodolphus had spent most of their resources towards Harry's training and necessary materials for potions and such.

"That might be a problem." William said. "No one will let you just stay here for free, but I could get you a contract."

"Aren't I a little young for mercenary work?" Harry questioned, raising an eyebrow. "I doubt many people will be very confident in the work of a fourteen year old boy."

"That would normally be the case." The older man admitted. "But if I vouch for you someone will be desperate enough to give you work. Normally I would give you a share of my money, but I know how skilled you are. The only thing holding you back from being one of the greatest fighters of our time is lack of experience."

"So this isn't even about me obtaining my own money." Harry said. "You just want me to become a better fighter?"

"Exactly!" William exclaimed. "And you'll make plenty of gold doing it. Once you start making an impression on people, your age won't be such an issue. People in this business value efficiency more than anything, and I know that you'll get everything done personally."

Harry nodded slowly, coming around to the idea. Although he wasn't confident in how easy William made his success seem, he supposed he didn't have anywhere else to go. He didn't have the vast network of contacts Rodolphus maintained, and even if he had access to them they wouldn't help him since his parents weren't around.

"Good. Now wait here while I talk to the owner. She'll be interested in this, I'm sure of it."

He waited and watched as William walked towards the bartender and began speaking to her. It looked like he was making very profitable promises or flattering her, as she began to smile widely. Harry idly wondered why every bar owner seemed to work their own establishment in the Magical World.

Nevertheless, William walked back with a smile on his face. "You've got a room on the second floor. First one on the right."

"What did you have to promise her?" Harry asked warily. Not many people would just let him stay there, even if he was paying. Letting a fourteen year old just stay in a bar was quite suspicious.

"We'd both give her a small percentage of our earnings." William shrugged. "Not much, but enough to pad her income. She didn't want to accept at first, but I managed to convince her that you were a prodigy and would do good work."

Harry ignored the last part. He doubted she even cared about him; the owner probably just wanted William's money. As skilled as he was he had to be bringing in bags of gold.

"By the way," William interjected with a smirk on his face, "she gave me a way to keep your age from being an issue with your clients. Have you ever heard of an aging potion?"

XxXx

Harry had to fight down a gag as he forced the vile potion down his throat. William leaned against a wall, silently laughing at Harry's expression. Soon, however, the worst of the potion's effects kicked in. Bones shifted and grinded together; flesh stretched and bubbled to cover his suddenly larger body; organs shifted and grew to accommodate his larger body. He tried to scream at the sheer agony of the change, but his throat suddenly closed.

His pain ended several moments later, much to his relief. He realized that he had fallen from the floor and disgustedly pushed him back up. The pain shouldn't have incapacitated him like that. Nevertheless he was slightly awed at the changes the potion had done to him.

He now stood half a foot taller and his body felt much stronger than it had previously. Power flooded through his body, causing his skin to tingle. His hands were glowing without him having to force magic into them, and he noticed that William was looking at him with approval.

"I can't even recognize you as the prodigal runt anymore!" William laughed. "Now how do you feel?"

"Great!" Harry exclaimed, although he was surprised by how deep his voice had become. "The change hurt like hell though."

"That's why barely anyone uses those potions. Most people only use it for entering competitions they are too young for, although there are precautions against such methods now. If they weren't so cheap to make I doubt anyone would produce them."

Harry nodded and grabbed his wand. "How long will I be like this?"

"Twelve hours." William said as he looked at a small, faded scrap of paper. "You'll notice the effects slowly wearing off after eleven."

"That's all the time I'll need." Harry said in approval. "Do you have my portkey ready?"

William grinned and threw a small rock at him. Harry nimbly caught it with his offhand, and he heard his mentor wish him luck before he was whisked away be its magic. He found himself in a whirlwind before he found himself in some sort of shed. It was covered in a variety of tools and was well lit. Several other people were with him, although Harry recognized their photos.

Three were rather average looking, with pale skin and brown hair. They also had the perfect build for a fighter and were glaring at him in annoyance. The last was more interesting. She had short blonde hair and green eyes and was quite small. Harry didn't underestimate her though – she had been put in charge of this contract for a reason.

"Alright." She barked in a cold voice. "Now that everyone is here, we can get underway. Our newest arrival is a newbie, so keep an eye on him. We don't get his share if he dies. Our target is simple: the French Ministry is having a problem with a few wizards kidnapping and killing muggle women, but don't want to let them get a break and go to Endroit Sombre. No survivors, don't harm any of the muggles or prisoners."

They all nodded in understanding before setting off. The blonde woman placed a restraining hand on Harry's shoulder to keep him from following the others.

"We're going around the back. Watch out for traps and don't wait for me to tell you to kill."

Harry nodded again and waited for her to show him the way. He followed closely behind, placing a disillusionment spell on himself as they left the safety of the area. It was night out, and he noticed that it was extremely cold. An oppressive feeling hung in the air, and Harry instantly recognized it as dark magic. Someone had been playing with rather dangerous rituals, it seemed.

Their target was a large home about half a mile away, or so the contract said. He couldn't see anything yet, and silently applied a night eye charm on himself. Best to see everything on a mission with people like this.

After ten minutes of silently walking through overgrown lawns in an ancient, decrepit neighborhood they saw the home. The blonde woman raised her wand and disillusioned herself before proceeding. Harry was impressed by its strength, although it didn't match the sheer power his possessed.

Another five minutes passed before the woman crept into the house, unlocking the door with an overpowered alohomora before silently slipping in. Harry nearly stumbled as he entered, unused to this body. The woman sent him a death glare, but none of the inhabitants seemed to be attracted by the noise.

He didn't cast a homenum revelio, due to the sensation it caused to those that it detected it. This would be much easier with stealth, and he found the countless lessons Rodolphus had drilled into his mind surfacing. Magic wasn't quite as useful for making one stealthy, as charms could weaken and break at random times. One could only be sure of their own body and its capabilities when it came to these situations.

After sweeping through the house, they found a lone man sitting in a chair reading a book. The lamp he had on blinded him to their presence, and Harry waited for the woman to do something. She quietly motioned for him to make a move, and he quickly fired a bludgeoner into the man's throat.

His partner looked at him, clearly impressed, before moving past the dead man. Harry thought that this would be an easy mission considering the lack of wards, but that hope was evaporated when orbs of light suddenly lit up the large home.

Harry instantly raised a shield, while the woman took cover behind a large sofa. He cautiously lowered the wand when no one appeared, but pulled it back up when he heard crashes and screams from the upper floors.

"Keep searching, I'm going to investigate! The idiots must have been caught." His partner hissed. She practically sprinted out of the room, leaving any pretense at stealth behind. Harry just sighed and followed her out, taking the alternate way that she did.

Now that the lights were on, he wiped away his night vision. The home was rather nice, he noticed as he cautiously walked around. It was clearly muggle, as the paintings were inert and lifeless. There were hints of magic everywhere though, belying the true nature of its occupants.

Harry continued to investigate, searching for any of the women the wizards had kidnapped. He had little luck until he ran into a rather short wizard with unkempt facial hair and hair just as short as he was.

The small man looked at him in surprise for a few moments before raising his wand. Harry was already in action by that point, however, and just as the little wizard raised his wand Harry killed him with another bludgeoner to the throat.

Harry kicked the body out of his way and continued down the hall towards a tall, thick looking door. It was of higher quality than the other doors, so he judged that it had to contain something important. He pushed it open, and when it had revealed the contents of the room he quickly took cover behind the wall.

A split second later several killing curses streaked through the door. Harry didn't bother going through the door, instead opting to make his own entrance. His blasting charm was much less controlled than it should have been, albeit much more powerful. Harry barely had time to frown at his lack of control before the wall simply turned into powder.

He charged through the new entrance, dodging the lethal flashes of green light that streaked at him. Harry twisted his wands and conjured several of his levitating stones just before several voices shouted out the killing curse again. The curses impacted his stones and shattered them, but another flick of his wand restored his shields.

Harry began to laugh as he saw the pitiful wizards attacking him. They were standing above a woman's body, but they were all so short and deformed that he couldn't believe they posed a threat. All of them were clearly experimenting with dark magic far beyond their limits for their bodies to have been warped so much.

They took offense to his amusement and shouted out the killing curse again. His stones easily blocked it, and he responded in kind. His flurry of brutal spells – spells many saw worse than the Unforgiveables, such as entrail expelling curses, blood boilers, and flaying curses – landed on each of the four wizards before the slow fools could react.

He laughed again at their screams of agony, although they quickly died from the terrifying curses. Harry used a few spells to throw them into the corners of the room. Now that the rather disappointing bunch of dark wizards were eliminated, he walked over to the woman.

She was still breathing, and appeared to be conscious. Harry supposed she might have been under the imperius, and he cut off the thick cords of rope that bound her to the stone table. When she was still completely inert, he realized that they had paralyzed her as well. Considering that it took a good bit of power for spells to last after death – even simple ones like a petrificus totalus – it seemed that his former foes weren't so weak after all.

Harry conjured clothes for her as she began to push herself up and threw herself onto her rescuer gratefully. He winced as she hugged him, and gently pushed her off. Physical contact wasn't something he particularly enjoyed. She gratefully pulled on the clothes, and the wizard looked away in embarrassment.

He conjured a cup of water for her as well, and ignored her as he waited for any of his allies to enter. This had to have been the most concentrated bunch of the wizards, so they should find him pretty soon. For now he would keep the young woman safe from any danger.

The wizard idly wondered just what kind of ritual the dead men had been attempting. Blood was spattered everywhere in the dimly lit room, and most of it hadn't come from the corpses. Quite a bit of it had permanently stained the wooden floor around this sacrificial table, so he assumed that the wizards had been kidnapping women for a blood sacrifice.

He frowned as that possibility entered his head. Blood magic was a little known field, but it was powerful. The result of that was rampant terror regarding its use, although he admitted in cases like this he could understand that fear. From their warped appearances it seemed that the wizards had been trying to increase their own power, or at least enchant a very powerful magical item.

That was a rather unlikely possibility though, even considering his own limited knowledge of blood magic. It was too complicated for him to learn in the short amount of time he had had before being placed under William's guiding hand, so he only knew that it was powerful and labor intensive. No enchantment would be worth that.

So it seemed that they were trying to increase their power. Of course, he though, the amateurs had botched something. Only magic darker than anything even Bellatrix had been willing to delve into would warp someone's body and mind. Blood magic wouldn't have done those things to their bodies had they done it correctly.

As someone entered through the door, Harry put those thoughts away. It wouldn't be useful to know anyways. Harry examined the figure and noticed that it was his former partner. She was rather pale and sweaty, although her tired look morphed into an impressed smile as she glanced around the room.

"Good work, now is the woman okay?" She asked.

Harry nodded. "I got to her before the idiots," he motioned to the ravaged corpses, "could proceed in whatever ritual they were performing. She's completely fine physically, although I doubt she's unscathed mentally."

"That's not our problem." The mercenary replied coldly. "I've got a portkey for you. Say "base" and it'll take you back to the bar. Take the woman with you. We'll mop up anything else. Your payment will be waiting with Walus."

She tossed a dirty looking sock to the floor. Harry looked at it in disgust, although he picked it up and held it out to the woman he saved. The woman placed a hand on it, and just as Harry prepared to leave the disgusting room his partner said something.

"William said you would do well." She smiled, a stark contrast to her previously icy personality. "I'm glad you delivered. Someone will be at the bar to pick her up."

Harry silently nodded back and said the word that would take him back to his home. The woman held onto him tightly as they were pulled into a whirlwind.

XxXx

"So, runt." William laughed. "Charlotte told me you exceeded her expectations. Coming from that icy bitch that's practically screaming praise for you. How did your first job go?"

"Good." Harry replied as he lounged back into the padded seat. He was in the booth the mercenaries had been at previously, and they were currently getting drunk as celebration for his first completed job. Of course, they would have gotten drunk regardless. Now they just had a reason.

The girl had been taken away practically the moment she arrived, although not before thanking Harry graciously and pecking him on the cheek. Harry blushed, an odd feeling for him. Despite his personal embarrassment, he found it oddly relaxing to simply enjoy the fun as the mercenaries kicked up a small party in the bar. The other patrons joined in, although he and William were hiding in the back in attempt to avoid the festivities.

Aside from the ten galleons given to the bartender – he had to give her a tenth of his earnings, an amount he didn't particularly like, despite the fact that he still had ninety galleons left – his gold had been put to use by William in buying a round of drinks for the patrons. William had assured him that it was a traditional part of the celebrations, although Harry doubted the sincerity of such a statement.

Nevertheless, he allowed it. Now he was speaking to his mentor about the contract nearly three hours after he'd returned. The other patrons left them in peace, which was probably the entire point of the charity now that he thought of it.

"It was disappointing, actually." He admitted. "I had been expecting real dark wizards, not malformed fools that couldn't even perform a ritual correctly. Is this the average job?"

William shook his head. "We usually face worse. Despite what we call ourselves, we aren't really mercenaries you know. Although we work for money and private individuals on occasion, most of our contracts come from the Ministry. We do jobs too dirty for the aurors or hit wizards and go after people the French Ministry doesn't want escaping in court."

"That explains some things." Harry sighed as he leaned back even more. He was tired and wanted to go to bed, but he supposed that William had more important things to tell him. "I suppose that's why we're paid so well? A hundred galleons is a good amount of money, after all."

"Yeah." William nodded. "Hell, in the more dangerous government contracts we get backup from hit wizards and the French aurors. Sometimes people like me – guys with lots of experience – even work with Unspeakables. We're the French Ministry's dirty little solution to their dirty big problems. Anyways," he continued, eying the tired boy closely, "you look like you're about to collapse. Go on up and rest, you've probably been up for a day."

Harry tiredly nodded and stood up, shoving through the drunken patrons. He nodded at the bartender before walking up to his room. He didn't bother taking his bloodied clothes off before collapsing into the bed. While the lack of structure and rules was fun, it was certainly tiring.

As he closed his eyes, he wondered when he would be able to return to Britain. Even if the real Bellatrix hated him, Rodolphus might not. When he was ready, he would return and save them no matter what.

His vengeful thoughts were cut off as blackness overcame him, introducing him to the world of dreams. Harry wouldn't awaken until his aging potion wore off and his body was painfully returned to its natural state.


	5. Chapter Five: The Coup

A/N: I would like everyone hope everybody enjoys this chapter. This should be the last time skip for a while. Review. I might have taken an idea from another author in regards to a mercenary appearing in this chapter. Forgot his name though.

Harry waited with Charlotte, who had become a regular ally of his in these contracts. He had become much, much better over the last year thanks to the constant fights and experience that he had earned. His actual skills hadn't improved much, since William had told him he was reaching his peak, but he began to react faster and know what the enemy was about to do before they even did it thinks to a subtle mix of legilimency and reading their body movements.

Thanks to being promoted by William, he had a constant stream of gold flowing in and an ever growing network of contacts that would have put Rodolphus' to shame. He was actually amazed at how easy these jobs were for him, and the French Ministry was as well. A few months in he had been given his first job with the hit wizards, which rapidly led to the jobs with the aurors, and that finally turned into jobs with the Unspeakables.

He was rather proud of his achievements, even if none of his employers would have hired him had they known he was just fifteen years old. Aging potion had turned out to be extremely useful, if more painful than Harry would have liked. Nevertheless the pain was well worth his success. If he had any other skills _besides_ fighting he might have simply thrown the potion away, but it was the key to his survival.

This was an Unspeakable contract. A member of the French Unspeakables had debriefed him and Charlotte a day ago and gave them the portkeys that would get them to their needed destination. Apparently the daughter of their DMLE had been kidnapped by a budding dark lord in an attempt to gain leverage over the French Ministry.

It was just too bad that the Unspeakables wouldn't allow that. They had chosen to react to the threat with overwhelming force, bringing in their most powerful and experienced contractors. The dark lord would have his reign cut short it seemed. Unspeakables and aurors were the main part of the force to eliminate the group, but to prevent unnecessary casualties they had the contractors as their lance.

Harry, Charlotte, William, and some teenager named Templar were going to be hitting first before the positions would be retaken by aurors. The old castle the dark lord – a wizard named Jacques – had somehow acquired would be falling into Ministry hands tonight. It was completely surrounded, and the overwhelming power of the spells the Ministry forces had been authorized to use shattered the wards.

They were still waiting for William and Templar. The other two were probably being given more advanced instructions since they would be clearing out the side rooms while Harry and Charlotte simply plowed through the house.

"So, Charlotte, how do you think this is going to work out?" Harry asked curiously, idly twirling his wand between his fingers in boredom.

"Perfectly." She said stonily. "The dark lord is going to be killed and you can be the hero that saves the princess. William will pay for the drinks after and Templar is going to go do whatever it is the creepy bastard does when he's not killing."

"And what are you going to do?" Harry asked in amusement. "Start up a brawl? Out drink William again? Actually smile for once?"

"I was actually going to go home and put muscle locking charms on my face again." She said seriously. "Can't have anyone thinking that I can make an expression. That would be bad for business."

The wizard just grinned and stood up from his conjured chair. Two figures were moving near, and he needed to ensure they were William and Templar. He discretely leveled his wand at the two men as they came closer, not lowering it until he could clearly see their faces.

"All is well?" He said, waiting to see if they responded correctly. In important missions like this passwords were given to ensure that partners weren't killed and then taken for polyjuice potions.

"Just like the rock flies." William grinned back. Harry nodded, although he wondered what idiot had come up with that certain code. It was just so…random. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Charlotte stand up, face hard and eyes cold.

"Now," William said, "As I am in command of this group, I have a few things to add. We won't receive much help from aurors, although they will be making sure none of the enemy escape. For us, that means that the enemy will be fighting as brutally and ruthlessly as they can in hopes of surviving. They aren't supposed to be all that skilled, relying more on terror and surprise to win their battles.

All of us except Hadrian are going to be storming the house and eliminating every hostile we see. Full force, no holding back."

Harry raised his eyebrows at that. He had been told that he would be in the so-called lance. William looked at him and answered his question.

"There's been a change of plans. The foremost goal of this is to rescue the girl, and we can't do that if they decide to kill her just to spite us. You will be entering ahead of us since you're the best at sneaking around. The girl will be with the dark lord in the great hall. Put this portkey," he said throwing a small, discrete pebble into Harry's hand, "onto her. Then you get to use that spell you've been practicing. We'll help you out when we get there. Go ahead and enter. Their wards have been completely shattered, so don't worry about being detected by them."

Harry nodded and disillusioned himself, as well as silencing both of his feet. He had to achieve this goal, and any detection at all would be ruinous to that attempt. The wizard silently discarded the bulky robe meant to deflect most minor spells and began his trek to the small castle in tight, dark blue clothes.

The dark color blended in with the night much better than black, since black stood out against the darkness. It wouldn't do much if his disillusionment wore off around someone with a night eye charm on, but it would keep non alert sentries from detecting him. Most of his mission was dependant on his disillusionment anyways.

It was a five minute walk to the castle, since they could get closer to it than usual thanks to the incredible amount of backup. Normally they would have had to stay at least a few miles away before making their move. Being less than half a mile away from his target was quite the luxury.

Harry noticed several sentries, but his disillusionment hid him from their view. Each of them were wearing small pieces of well-crafted metal armor on their wrists and legs. It would keep the majority of spells aurors were normally allowed to use from affecting them at all, although the thick leather they wore on their chests would be next to useless against most spells. The armor was light enough to not cause too many problems with mobility, but strong enough to provide a strong defense.

He had to admit that it was impressive, although it wouldn't help them this time. The aurors were authorized to use lethal force on this mission, which meant that their thin layer of armor would be next to useless against Unforgiveables and dark curses.

As he carefully passed them, he had to fight down the strong urge to simply snap their unprotected necks. There were so many spells he knew that would be so fun to use on the idiots, but unfortunately killing even one of them would ruin his mission. His mind flashed to the spell that would tear their spines out of their neck. That would be very amusing…

He forced down the amusing thought and continued to the back entrance. It was heavily guarded by several heavily armored wizards, but Harry easily slipped through. They had left the door open for some idiotic reason that a mind as advanced as his couldn't hope to understand.

The castle was filled to the brim with wizards and witches. They bustled around, clearly terrified out of their wits and looked as though they were about to flee this place. Harry was annoyed at how he seemed to constantly have to dodge out of their way, but the snippets of conversations he overhead were well worth it.

"—he's insane! Talking to all the Elites about how they will reign victorious over France forever, and how the aurors can't hope to beat him."

"Yeah," another man said, "what did that spy in the Ministry say about the mercenaries coming in? That William Walus guy nearly won the International Dueling Championship! I hear the other heavyweights are coming in to help too. We should just make a break for it."

Harry grinned at their fear, but ignored the rest of the terrified jabbering. He slipped through the halls undetected, having picked out the location of the great hall through the underlings' chatter. It was in the center of the castle, and he'd heard enough to presume that it would be the dark lord's last bastion of power. The man's most loyal wizards and witches would be with him, although it seemed that the dark lord's inner sanctum would be much more difficult to get into than the castle itself.

Nevertheless, he eventually found himself in front of two massive stone doors that were impossible to open by normal means. It would be child's play to enter by magic, but that would expose him to the masses of wizards that littered the halls. Perhaps some of them would leave to intercept invaders. The dark lord would want as many of the aurors and mercenaries dead as possible before they attacked his inner sanctum.

So Harry waited. He watched carefully for anyone even attempting to enter the doors, hoping for an earlier chance to get into the great hall. Unfortunately, the dark lord's underlings gave the stone doors a wide berth.

Suddenly a loud crash rippled through the castle. Harry grinned beneath his charm as the varied underling began to panic in their attempt to defend the castle, nearly trampling over each other as they rushed towards the back. A few seconds later he found his chance.

Several lightly armored wizards and a lone witch burst out of the great hall, blasting the stone doors out of the way. Harry slipped past them and entered the great hall. It was surprisingly small, with only a few small tables and a single ornate throne as furniture. Each of the tables was filled with wizards and witches, each with a blank look in their eyes, although each looked at the throne with adoration.

Harry noticed that there was a small wooden chair to the left of the throne, inhabited by a pale, prepubescent girl. She looked familiar, striking some dim memory. But he ignored her for now, looking at the dark lord in interest.

Overall he was an impressive specimen. He was very tall and powerfully built, although his size would be a detriment in dueling where agility and slight builds were favored. Of course, he was powerful enough to not need to dodge, opting instead to erect nigh impenetrable shields. Right now he was speaking to his adoring followers, his deep voice flowing into their ears like a Siren's song.

He sneered at the assorted magical. It would be amusing to see their faces when he killed their master. Harry was very careful as he circled around the hall, slowly getting closer and closer to his target. His hand clenched around the pebble tightly, readying to throw it at the frozen girl; she was clearly under some sort of curse, likely the imperius or some other compulsion. The moment she was safe he could unleash his newest spell.

So he was rather happy when his plan worked perfectly. The second he dropped the pebble onto her he leveled his wand at the dark lord – the only opponent that would probably stand against him and have a chance of success – and whispered the incantation of the killing curse.

Unfortunately for him, the powerful spell forced his disillusionment away. The sickly green burst of light had no chance to miss the massive man from a mere five feet away, and the dark lord simply collapsed as the life left him. Harry smirked as the man's followers started to scream and wail in sorrow and rage.

One of them saw him and used a flaying curse. Harry didn't bother trying to bat it away, instead dodging it. If he messed up with a spell like that he would be killed in moments. He took cover behind the ornate throne of the former dark lord and forced himself to calm down. Emotions could only ruin his control over his trump card, and any loss of control would result in his own death.

Harry grinned as he whispered the incantation of fiendfyre after he aimed his wand out into the crowd of enraged magicals. There was no defense for it, and the only way to extinguish it was an equally powerful spell that summoned immense amounts of water or by the will of the caster. It took too long to burn out to save them anyways, so the followers were helpless.

As the powerful dark magic he had learned from William erupted from his wand in an inferno of magic and power Harry tightly exerted his will over the fire. It was a difficult struggle and a draining task to direct the inferno, but he forced the draconic form of the flames to consume only the targets he desired.

Harry sweated from the horrific heat and the sheer strain of the situation, and realized that he couldn't control the monstrous work of magic for much longer. It was bucking and twisting from his control even as it devoured the defenseless wizards and witches, and he could feel the magic trying to turn on him. After a few more moments he began to feel the impossibly hot flames begin to slip from his control and slowly turn towards him in an attempt to destroy its creator.

He forced his will upon it in one last, herculean effort. The inferno was forced out of being, the rampaging forms of the fiery monsters shrinking and dwindling as their power was cut away. Harry collapsed as the fiendfyre finally died, although he pulled himself into the dark lord's throne.

The wizard kicked the dark lord's charred corpse out of the way as he reclined into the cold stone throne, smiling tiredly as he examined his handiwork. Most of the room was charred and blackened, and the incinerated bodies were little more than grotesque, twisted mockeries of what they once were. The wooden tables had been completely consumed by the fiendfyre, and the remnants of the corpses were little more than ash clinging to bones.

Although he would barely be able to defend himself should more of the dark lord's underlings arrive – he hadn't realized just how strenuous directing fiendfyre for more than a few seconds could be – Harry was confident as he reclined in the uncomfortable throne, silently awaiting for his allies to enter. Without their dark lord the inhabitants of the castle could hardly put up a decent defense, although they would still try.

Harry felt exhaustion set in as the minutes ticked by without anyone entering. He wanted nothing more than to simply fall asleep, but resisted. This was not the place, no matter how appealing the prospect was.

Finally the doors were pushed open and several shapes emerged into the room. Harry sat back up and realized that they were his partners. He pushed back his exhaustion and grinned, opening his arms up wide as they looked around the room.

"Do you like my handiwork? I think it's a vast improvement over how I found it."

"Looks like the fiendfyre worked." William remarked drily. "Do you have Jacques' corpse? The Unspeakables will need to test it to ensure the identity."

Harry stood up from the throne and nodded as he stretched his muscles. "It's this one." He said, lightly kicking it again. "I hadn't meant for the fiendfyre to get him, but I suppose it was a beginner's mistake."

William didn't say anything, instead opting to levitate the body towards him. He wrinkled his nose as the burnt corpse grew closer. Charlotte left and walked around the room, searching for anything valuable that might have survived the fire. Templar just blankly looked around, seemingly bored.

"How did the invasion go?" Harry asked nonchalantly. "You certainly entered with style. I heard the explosion all the way over here."

"It was simple. The pathetic excuses for wizards tried to block us with _protegos_ of all things." William said in disgust. "Templar just tore right through him with that _torentus_ spell of his. Just washed them away, made them pretty easy to kill."

Templar didn't react, just staring at the corpse with cold eyes. "When I accepted this contract I expected a challenge." The teenager said in disgust. "But without fear they were weak. A child could have fought back better."

Harry just grinned. Templar never was one for words, so even hearing that much from him was a rarity.

"So when do we get our money?" He said to William. "I got the girl to safety, by the way."

William shrugged again. "We have to wait for the aurors to get here. I don't know why they couldn't have done this by themselves, especially since the Ministry let them off their leashes for this raid. I guess they overestimated Jacques' strength. The contractor told me to just have us wait here until the rest arrived."

"Do we need to sweep the upper floors?"

"No. Most of his followers were down here to begin with, and most of them are dead now. Aside from a few prisoners, only a few of his men are still up there. Aurors will get them later."

Harry nodded and stiffly walked back to his throne, ignoring the snickers coming from William. He collapsed into it and conjured up a footrest. There was no reason he couldn't be comfortable by waiting.

The other mercenaries found their own spots as they realized that it would be a while before anyone would get them. Charlotte cleaned up one of the corners and sat down while William conjured up his own chair. Templar remained standing, silently staring at the dark lord's corpse.

After what felt like an hour a beautiful blonde woman walked in, followed several aurors. She had tears running down her face, and Harry noticed that she bore a strong similarity to the girl he had just rescued. Perhaps she was her mother or aunt. The woman exuded a strong veela aura, although none of the contractors were entranced by it. Harry and William had mastered occlumency, Charlotte was a woman who had trained in it, and Templar probably lacked the emotions to be affected by it.

Harry groaned in pain as he rose from the throne, vanishing his footrest with a jab of his wand. His exhaustion was mostly gone, although it was replaced by terrible soreness. He wouldn't be using fiendfyre again for a long time if he had any say in it. The other mercenaries also rose to attention, each staring at the woman curiously.

"I am Apolline Delacour," she began in a musical voice, "Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. On behalf of the French Ministry of Magic and Department of Magical Law Enforcement, I thank you for your services. You spared the lives of Ministry personnel and eliminated a rising threat to our nation."

The contractors waited patiently for her to get the formalities out of the way so that she could give them the real thanks: wonderful, wonderful gold.

"Your payment will be forwarded to your Gringotts accounts." She said in a far less official tone, and smiled at each of them. "And I would be honored if you joined my family and that of the other Heads for dinner tomorrow night."

Templar had heard all he needed to. The moment he heard about his payment he withdrew a portkey, although he didn't use it until after the woman had finished speaking. Apolline looked at the area he had been standing at in annoyance before sending a questioning look towards William. It seemed that she had some sort of previous connection with him.

"Don't worry," the older man grinned, "he's always been like that. Not a very personable fellow. I'll be sure to show up."

She nodded for a moment before examining them, clearly awaiting an answer from the other two. Lessons from Rodolphus – he internally winced, not having thought of his old family for a while – and William rose to the surface of his mind, reminding him to foster every connection that he could.

"I'll be there." He said hoarsely, wincing as the vibrations hurt his suddenly sore throat. Charlotte also accepted. Apolline smiled at them and gave the information as well as information on what to wear. Harry had to hide a grimace as soon as he heard about dress robes. His new career hadn't given him much need for such formal attire, which meant that he would have to borrow some from William. There was no way he would be able to find them in such a short amount of time.

With that out of the way the woman left, allowing the mercenaries to finally leave the castle. Harry tapped his portkey with his wand and held on tightly as the whirlwind engulfed him and placed him in the familiar scene of the bar. William arrived next to him a few moments later.

XxXx

"Don't you find it odd that Delacour wants us at dinner with the other heads? We're important to the Ministry, of course, but we aren't exactly the kinds of people you want to be seen with in public."

Harry was talking to William as he dug through the man's extensive wardrobe in search of dress robes. He would have preferred to simply dress in his normal battle robes – he felt rather fragile without the heavy, protected cloth around his shoulders – but that wasn't possible.

"That little girl you rescued was her daughter, if you remember correctly." William responded. "Besides, she's a lot more friendly to us than most of the Heads aside from the Unspeakables."

He shrugged, realizing that he had forgotten the link between the girl and Apolline. The bored expression on his face changed to contentment as he found a suitable pair of robes.

"Are these able to morph a bit to fit me?" He asked, showing William the high quality black robes. William looked at them for a moment and nodded.

"Harry, how many aging potions have you drank in the last week?" William suddenly asked.

Harry frowned as he tried to remember. There had been that contract with the goblins a week ago that he'd had to double dose on, he'd been forced to triple dose for all the arrangements with the Ministry contract – oh. That wasn't good.

"Five." He admitted, realizing that they had hit a snag. Five a week could debilitate anyone not powerful enough to resist the slightly toxic potions, but his magic purged the accumulated poison much faster than the average wizard could. Six, however, was dangerous even for him. Most people would have to go to a hospital for it.

"Damn it." William cursed. "I guess you'll just be going as a teenager. You won't be risking your life just go to a party."

"Why don't I just skip?" Harry asked. "Say I'm sick or something."

"You could do that, but I actually want to see if they'll accept you." William admitted. "Apolline won't care – she values skill and efficiency more than anything else – but I want to see their reactions. It might be a problem if they ask that many questions, but I'll keep too much attention off of you."

"I suppose I'm only a year or two younger than Templar." Harry said. Perhaps this would turn out to be amusing.

"That's the spirit." William grinned. "Now let's get ready. We've only got a few hours to get to the Delacour's home. Just shrink those robes. As long as it lasts for the night you won't look too awkward."

XxXx

Harry glared at the government officials as they stared at him incredulously. Some of them looked away abashedly, but several looked as though they wanted to laugh. Apolline looked at him curiously.

"Ah, I was unaware you were so young." She said.

"It's bad for business." He replied stiffly before taking the empty seat next to Charlotte. She didn't react aside from glancing at him in amusement, something that relieved him. It would be a shame if his age ruined one of his working relationships. Besides, he wasn't that young – fifteen was when most British wizards and witches determined their careers, and Templar couldn't be any older than sixteen or seventeen.

The dinner passed quietly on the mercenaries' end. They clearly didn't belong with the esteemed heads of the French Ministry – except for William, who blended right in. He was laughing and charming each of them, entrenching himself into their good graces.

Harry did notice two other people that were out of place. Two girls that were the spitting image of Apolline were sitting on either side of their mother. The head of the DMLE seemed to notice his curious look and began to speak of her children. Harry clearly noticed that one was the girl he had rescued, although the other was new to him.

"—Fleur just won the Triwizard Tournament." Apolline bragged, sending a proud look at the teenager. Fleur looked even prouder than her mother. "She managed to get to the cup before the other competitors even got close!"

He just nodded, although he privately noticed that no one had said a thing about Gabrielle's incarceration. Perhaps it was a taboo subject, or perhaps they had even obliviated the experience from her mind to spare her the trauma.

Nevertheless he continued to politely listen, although he rarely spoke. The evening grew rather tedious, and he felt exhaustion begin to overcome him. He hadn't fully healed from his experiences yesterday, and it was beginning to show.

Nearly an hour later everyone slowly began to exit through the fireplace, although when he and William stood up to go Apolline asked him to stay for a little while longer. He sighed and sat back down, nodding at William to go ahead and leave.

When everyone besides he and the Delacours were gone – he idly noted that quite a few of the mercenaries he had been with would kill for a chance to be around three part-veela – Apolline began to speak to him.

"I apologize for keeping you here, since I'm sure you would like to return to your home, but I would like to give you a bonus for saving my daughter." She said.

"Any of us could have done it." Harry shrugged, not sure where she was going with this. "I was just the one that got the job."

"But you were the one that delivered." Apolline pointed out. "You were the one that actually saved her. I would like to give you a bonus of a thousand galleons, along with the two thousand the Ministry has already placed in your account."

His eyes widened in astonishment. Five hundred galleons was enough to buy any equipment he would ever need, and three thousand galleons would be enough for him to do nearly anything he wanted. It was more than a small fortune.

"Thank you for your generosity." He said politely, barely masking his glee. If Harry was alone he would probably be singing and acting like one of the drunks at the bar.

"Gabrielle also wished to speak to you privately." Appoline said, motioning towards the small girl. Harry nodded slowly, unsure of what she could possibly want.

As Apolline left the room she turned back to him. "I wish you luck on anything else you do in life, Hadrian. I'm sure you will be great."

Harry bid her farewell before turning back to Gabrielle. She looked up at him with wide blue eyes, and Harry again felt as though he should know her from somewhere. Her weak veela aura forced words like _adorable_ and _cute_ into his mind, and he couldn't find it in him to argue. She couldn't harm him anyways.

"I know you." She whispered, clearly shy.

He nodded, supposing that she had the same feeling as he did. "Do you remember why you remember me?" Harry asked curiously. For some reason he found himself taking a kinder tone with the young girl, something that would have destroyed his image amongst his peers.

"You were there when my papa died." She said, slightly louder this time. Gabrielle didn't tear up, although her voice had become slightly broken as she spoke of her father's death.

Suddenly Harry remembered. He remembered healing a small girl with blonde hair, saving her from Bellatrix's insanity. He remembered the man that had suffered under Bellatrix's wand, how he had been covered in blood as though he had had it poured over him.

"Ah, yes." He began, still caught up in the memories of his old family. "That was a terrible day. I'm sorry it happened." That was certainly the truth, since that was the day his former family had been shattered apart. Strangely, however, he found himself feeling sorry for the girl as well. Harry mentally frowned, disliking the effect the aura had on him.

"Why were you there?" She asked curiously. "I just remember seeing you hurting the mean woman that was hurting me."

"My job." Harry grimaced, disliking the answer. It was a good lie, though, one that would wipe away most peoples' suspicion. "I was lucky to have saved you, although I cannot say the same about your father. I apologize for that."

Gabrielle looked down at her feet. "I just wanted to thank you for your aid," She said, stumbling over her words. Harry hid his smirk at them – the small girl who was at most nine or ten clearly wasn't used to speaking so sophisticatedly.

"It was my pleasure." He responded, silently despising the kind smile that damn aura forced onto his face. "I can merely hope that you never require it again. I'm afraid that I need to leave, however. It's getting late and I'm sure your mother would want you to go to bed soon."

The small girl nodded and suddenly ran away. Harry shrugged and merely blinked as his mind was freed from the aura's effects. He turned towards the fireplace and stepped through it, yelling out the name of his home as he did so. That talk had reminded him of his family, a subject he didn't enjoy thinking about, not when he was unable to bring the shattered mess together.

As he entered the bar, suddenly awash in the memories of his old family, he saw William drinking with some of the other mercenaries. Harry didn't go over, instead moving to his room. He bade Veronica – the bartender had become quite kind to him after he began to bring her in a steady income, although she had stopped taking his money a month or so ago – goodnight.

He had a lot to think about. Perhaps he was ready to return to Britain and fight. Harry had the experience now, so William couldn't try to hold him back here with that excuse. But did he want to return? The Bella that he had known wasn't the true Bellatrix, just a twisted version of the woman that was forced to love him. Rodolphus…well, his feelings on Rodolphus were complicated.

Besides, they were both in Azkaban. He refused to return there, not to save them. But perhaps he could return things to the way they were, even if it required quite a bit of bloodshed and work. Harry frowned at the conflicting feelings.

Why couldn't this be as simple as a contract?

XxXx

"You're leaving, then?" William asked sadly from his doorway. Harry had come to the decision last night. He had become the perfect fighter in the time he had spent as a mercenary. Harry had connections and enough money to finance his new quest, and if he needed more he could simply find a contract.

"Yes. I came to the decision last night. It's time to return to Britain." Harry stated as he flicked his wand, sending everything he needed into an expanded suitcase. "There is unfinished business for me there, and I think that I can't achieve much more here."

"I don't like it, but I understand. The same feeling brought me to France when I lost the International Championship. This kind of work gave me a new lease on life. Hopefully you'll find one back in Britain."

Harry nodded slowly and picked up the suitcase with his powerful, silvery hands. "One day I might return, but for now I have to go."

"And William," he said hesitantly, feeling genuine remorse for leaving his friend, "thanks. For everything. You probably saved my life and you've helped me more than my parents have."

William smiled sadly again. "It was no problem, I couldn't let my favorite student fall into the dregs of society, could I? Anyways, I hope you succeed in whatever unfinished business you have back on the Isles."

Harry felt a lump in his throat as he carefully constructed a portkey. As it began to glow, William said one last thing. "I want that rematch one day. Be careful."

He nodded tightly, and got in his last words to William with a smile.

"Tell everyone I said bye."

With that he vanished, tearing through time and space to land in his former home.

XxXx

He frowned. His network had informed him that Dumbledore was still actively searching for him. Dumbledore was certainly persistent, although he couldn't blame the man. Harry had killed two of his men, after all.

Still, it added an extra degree of danger. Dumbledore wouldn't kill him unless absolutely necessary, but he would incarcerate him without a second thought inside of Hogwarts. Harry was sure that he would be kept under lock and key until the ancient wizard had gotten whatever he wanted from him.

It wasn't as dangerous as it would have been a year ago, however. Even with William's training he had been rough and crude. Only with the experience he'd gained during his time as a contractor had he perfected his techniques and spells, free to use them on a variety of disposable targets.

Even if Dumbledore sent his entire Order after Harry it wouldn't succeed. While Harry had been a formidable opponent before, he was now a monster. Numbers meant little when his magic made him so fast that he could fire off ten spells before his enemies could draw their wands. Besides, fiendfyre made vast numbers even more useless.

The only way Dumbledore would truly be able to apprehend him would be to come after himself. Harry knew he was no match for the ancient wizard in an even remotely fair fight, so his best way to avoid such a confrontation should Dumbledore ever become curious or desperate enough to catch him would be to have allies all around him.

But he would prefer not to worry about Dumbledore at all. His plan – despite its origins being an exhausted haze in which he put people and plots together – would eliminate the old wizard permanently. It was more than ambitious, but promises of power and gold would smooth the gears along nicely.

In fact, he smirked – causing several people that knew of his reputation to edge away – it would be set into motion in just a few days. Several of the Lestranges' old associates that had remained in positions of power would be meeting him soon

Still, he didn't know why he was actually worrying himself with his plan. He didn't want the power it would offer him, nor the wealth. Harry hardly cared enough about his parents to shake Wizarding Britain to its core for them, so it wasn't that.

Perhaps it was simply to prove he could. A fifteen year old prodigy with enough ambition to change the entire world – that would be amusing.

He didn't even know the answer to his own question. It might be a mix of everything – he wanted to prove himself to be beyond even Hadrian the Mercenary. Harry would shake the world and everybody would know about it.

Apolline Delacour said he would be great. Maybe he just wanted to prove her right.

XxXx

They were in a dark room in Knockturn Alley provided by a grateful ex-client of his. Several of the most well-known faces in Magical Britain and a plethora of lesser known faces were gathered around a large, round wooden table. Harry was sitting down, shrouded in shadows. Considering so many of these men were former death eaters he thought they would be used to dramatics.

When everyone had quieted down and looked at him curiously, he began to speak.

"Hello, my friends. I bid you welcome. Do any of you know why you're here?"

A particularly hated voice answered him, arrogantly piercing his ears. Harry had to fight down the urge to crush the man's throat.

"No." Lucius Malfoy sneered, clearly not recognizing him thanks to the aging potion. "And if you don't explain yourself right now than I shall leave. I have very important business, and these needless theatrics are merely delaying me."

Harry smiled. "Well said, Mr. Malfoy. But I should warn you that none of your business shall be half as important as what I have in mind. You see, I chose all of you for a reason. All of you know each other, all of you are ambitious, and each of you possess a permanent seat on the Wizengamot."

He let his words sink in for a moment before continuing. "Although you have all achieved power since your former Lord's fall from grace, I suspect that none of you are satisfied. I can see it in your faces; that yearning for ultimate power can never be hidden."

Several of the men were beginning to look nervous. Harry could easily tell they were fingering their wands, more than willing to kill him to escape anything he might try to do with them. He privately sneered. If he wanted to kill these men it would be child's play. They wouldn't last more than a minute.

Harry raised a hand. "You all have nothing to fear from me. I do not plan on purging you or any other such nonsense. Instead, I offer my assistance in your hidden quests." The lone woman in the room looked annoyed. "Do you have a question, Ms. Zabini?"

"Yes." The Italian woman said; her voice naturally smooth and seductive. "Why should we believe anything you say? This could easily be a trap for us, set up by our opponents in the Ministry. Even should we be foolish enough to believe your words, how would you aid us? It is obvious that you are young."

"A good question." Harry replied. "I have no love for the Ministry, and they have even less for me. Perhaps I will prove it, should you allow me to aid all of you. Although I am young I possess power beyond each of you. My power has been trained and perfected from a very young age, and my skills have been forged in the fires of war."

Most of the people in the room looked irritated by his brash statement, although Malfoy and Zabini looked intrigued. Parkinson – a short, squat man that looked like a bull dog – glared at him with beady eyes.

"You obviously have no idea who you are speaking with. Amongst us are some of the finest duelists in all of Britain, and you dare to believe you are superior. I suspect that you aren't even a pureblood!"

Harry growled back at him, meeting the beady black eyes with his own green ones. His expression smoothed over after a moment, returning to its inscrutable state.

"Is that a challenge?" He purred, gripping his wand tightly and preparing to show his capabilities to the others. His plan depended upon a majority of them aiding him in return for power, and he would prefer they join him through their own will. It would be tiring to maintain so many imperius curses.

Parkinson growled at him and suddenly leapt up from his chair, trying to catch Harry off guard. The familiar red of a stunning spell flashed out from his wand, traveling towards him at a speed few could react at. Harry grinned and used his lightning fast reflexes to bat the stunner into a wall.

The squat man looked at him in confusion as Harry grinned at him for a moment. Before the pureblood could blink Harry had returned the favor with a killing curse. Parkinson's beady eyes widened in terror as he heard the incantation, but before he could even attempt to move the sickly green light flashed past his head and into the wall behind him. Harry sat back down as the former death eater trembled.

"I apologize, Mr. Parkinson." Harry said calmly. "My hand must have slipped. Pull something like that again and it won't be an accident."

Parkinson quietly sat down, looking at Harry with undisguised fear and hatred. Harry just smiled, running his eyes over the faces surrounding him.

"Does anyone else wish to disrupt this meeting again?" Harry asked. "Please, get it out of your systems now. It would be a shame if I had to put up with another interruption."

No one moved, all looking at Harry with calculating gazes. Finally, Malfoy spoke.

"Perhaps you aren't as weak as I believed you to be." Lucius said, breaking the tense silence that had emerged in the aftermath of Harry's demonstration. "How do you plan on granting us power? I have the entire Ministry in my pocket, and my only true opponent is Dumbledore."

"My plan is simple." Harry said. "As you said, Dumbledore is the only true political threat to any of you. The remainder of the Wizengamot, would produce another leader should he fall. No matter what, you will always have opposition."

"Yes, yes." Zabini interjected, her dark eyes narrowing at him. "We know this. Get to the point."

"Ah, direct are you?" Harry smirked. "Very well. My plan is to kill the entire Wizengamot and Dumbledore, leaving all of you in sole control of Wizarding Britain."

There was silence. For several moments no one dared to say anything, their eyes bugging out at the audacity of the statement. Finally, someone began to laugh. They were quickly joined by the majority of the room's occupants. Only a few remained serious, still aiming their calculating gazes at Harry.

"What a great plan!" One of the men – Greengrass, Harry remembered – scoffed. "It would surely work, despite Dumbledore being the most powerful wizard in Britain and the other members of the Wizengamot being powerful in their own right! I'm leaving. This is foolishness I will take no part in."

Several other men murmured their assent, each rising to join Greengrass as he began to leave the room. Harry simply smirked and waved his hand. His gloves hid the silver glow of his hands as the magic was forced through them.

Each of the rising men were forced down into their seats. Greengrass simply fell to the ground. They all looked at him in a mixture of awe and fear.

"I did not say you could leave." Harry said pleasantly. "Not without hearing my plan first. While Greengrass' objections are understandable, I have an adequate way around that. Power means little unless one is properly paranoid, something that Dumbledore has never paid heed to."

"Why should he?" Harry asked rhetorically, rising from his chair and beginning to pace behind it. "He has few enemies, and those he does cannot break his sway over Britain. For all purposes, Dumbledore is invincible. None of you even dared to think about directly opposing him in anything but politics, let alone challenging him.

His confidence will be his downfall." Harry exclaimed, inwardly smirking as his audience watched on in rapt attention. Magical power made it so easy to enthrall wizards. "Although none of us could hope to defeat Dumbledore in a true battle, we will not be facing him in a true battle. We will strike through stealth, we shall cut him down before he knows we are there. Although he is many magnitudes of power above you, he is neither omniscient nor omnipotent. He is a man, and a rather old one at that. I have the plan, all I need is for you all to aid me in carrying it out."

Harry smiled as the dazzled wizards proclaimed their loyalty to the plan. It was oddly satisfying to see all of these powerful wizards practically begging to be a part of it, so awash in their awe of his power and their desire for power to care little of the possible consequences.

He doubted they would have joined him had he not been so obviously forcing power into his every word, dazzling them with his magic. Harry understood now how Dumbledore and Voldemort had attracted their followers to them, all it required was promises and a show of power. It was almost disappointing how easy it was to manipulate his kind.

"My friends." He said. "Please, calm yourselves. We have much to do and little time to perfect it."

They all sat down, Greengrass rising so he could regain his seat, and listened.

XxXxXx

"Lucius, what do you know of the Wizengamot's wards?" Harry asked. It had been two months since he had put his half-baked plan into action, and it was nearing fruition.

He was alone except for Malfoy, Parkinson, and Zabini. They were the most powerful of his little group of conspirators, each having a certain value to them. Malfoy was the most powerful politically, and he could easily prepare things in the Ministry to maximize their efficiency in the takeover. Parkinson was strangely familiar with many magical creatures and criminals, and could easily prepare any sort of force Harry required.

And Zabini provided the capital. Despite starting out with a fortune many times smaller than Malfoy and Parkinson, through careful investing and regularly finding new husbands to inherit from she had dwarfed their fortunes. Unlike many of her pureblood peers, however, she did not flaunt it. The dark woman preferred to stay mostly out of the way.

"There are none." He replied. "Aurors provide necessary security, and all wands are taken up to prevent a coup of this sort."

"Good." Harry said. "Bribing the aurors or placing your own men on as security should be simple. I will take care of Dumbledore and most of the Wizengamot. Have you made sure that the weaker members of the Wizengamot will remain away for that particular assassination? We can't destroy all of it, lest we draw suspicion upon ourselves."

His cohorts nodded. They had carefully chosen the neutral members that would be amiable to their future policies, as well as several Dumbledore supporters that wouldn't present any sort of resistance. The destruction of such a large portion of the Wizengamot would invite suspicion and resistance as it were. They needed to preserve some semblance of balance politically, even if it was completely false.

"Greengrass is setting things up." Parkinson grunted. "There'll be quite a few family problems that day."

Harry grinned. It was amazing how simple this plan was, yet it was working great so far. The wizards had clearly never expected that anyone would have the gall to attempt such a thing, although perhaps their confidence in Dumbledore had a part in that. The old wizard was exponentially more powerful than the average wizard, and he was allowed to keep his wand. That prevented anyone from actually trying something. Until now, anyways.

"Do you have forces ready in case of civil war?" Harry asked Parkinson. He hoped it wouldn't come to that, not when the coup would end rather cleanly otherwise, but it was best to be prepared. Harry still wasn't sure why he was doing this, but he wanted it to succeed.

"Yes." The doglike man nodded. "Most hit wizards and aurors are so loyal to the Ministry that they'll do whatever the current administration wants. Some of the older death eaters still on the run are ready to help out in exchange for pardons, and a few mercenaries have been bought. Too bad the Lestranges got caught," Parkinson said forlornly, "they would have been great for this."

Harry showed no outward reaction to the mentions of his parents. He couldn't even give the slightest hint of his true identity to the others. Lucius couldn't recognize him with the aging potion, considering the man had never paid too much attention to him anyways, and none of his other conspirators had met him before. His true identity would ruin all of the sway he had over them. Not even the power he wielded would prevent them from scorning him.

"Ms. Zabini, have you given Lucius the money to bribe Fudge?" Harry asked politely. Zabini resisted his power the most, although she was still almost fanatically loyal to him. It was best to be gentle with her.

"Yes." She said grudgingly. "Couldn't we just assassinate him and get one of us appointed? The little man asks for exorbitant sums."

"Ms. Zabini, we can't do that." Harry chided. "This is high-profile enough as it is. The death of Fudge would be certain to increase tensions. None of us want a civil war on our hands."

She sighed and leaned back. Harry smiled at her and turned back to Lucius.

"Ensure that we have access to Hogwarts after Dumbledore is dead." Harry said. "I wouldn't put it past his little Order to try to blockade themselves inside at the first opportunity. That school has some of the strongest wards in all of Britain, and I won't allow a stronghold like that falling into the Order's hands."

Lucius nodded. "Will you keep it open?" The pale man asked curiously.

Harry frowned. "That'll be left to your discretion. I don't care about the school remaining open, so long as it doesn't fall into any of the inevitable resistances' hands."

Malfoy nodded in satisfaction.

"Well," Harry said after realizing that the plan was mostly ready, "you are all dismissed. We strike in a week's time. Lucius, it is your job to ensure that I get inside the Wizengamot's chamber undetected. I don't want a single mention of me on any sort of records."

His conspirator nodded in understanding before sweeping out of the room. Zabini and Parkinson quickly followed, leaving Harry alone in his dimly lit chambers. Harry left last after silently putting the pieces of his plot once more

The most important part would be the assassination of Dumbledore. He would be entering the Wizengamot chamber long before the actual meeting, silently waiting for the condemned men and women to enter. When Dumbledore prepared to speak he would assassinate him with the killing curse before he even knew he was there.

Lucius' bribed aurors would ensure no one could leave, and they would barricade and reinforce the doors with magic before leaving. They would be eliminated later to tie up loose ends. Anti-apparition wards already covered the entire Ministry to prevent anyone from escaping easily.

Even those of the Wizengamot that were paranoid to smuggle in their wands would be helpless to resist the fiendfyre that Harry would eliminate them all with. Once the majority of Dumbledore's supporters, the neutrals that might not accept the new regime, and quite a few of the "dark" members simply for appearances were killed, Harry would simply leave via portkey.

Every possible loose end was covered, and everything that could possibly be needed in the future was prepared. Aurors that could pose problems would be either imperiused or killed depending on their strength of will, and the Ministry would purge possibly problematic workers, as well as known Dumbledore supporters. The majority would be murdered to prevent them from aiding any rebellions.

Hogwarts – as Dumbledore's true bastion of power – would be combed for members of Dumbledore's little Order. It would remain open to any necessary actions by the new Ministry, although it wouldn't be regulated beyond having new teachers. Considering it was the end of the year anyways the students would hardly even notice.

Parkinson had acquired everything Harry needed. Mercenaries to do things the new Ministry couldn't publicly do without attracting suspicion, death eaters to take their places with the mercenaries, and other old Voldemort supporters that would be willing to aid them.

The hundred thousand witches and wizards of Britain would barely notice should everything go to plan. And if they did realize and begin a civil war his little group of conspirators would be ready. Other Ministries would not be told of the takeover beyond the bare basics, and Britain would be relatively closed off from the world.

Harry grinned as all the pieces fell into place. Those were merely the primary goals, and it had taken the combined efforts of his conspirators to meet them. Even he didn't know every single action being taken, trusting that his followers were loyal enough to achieve the goals he gave to each of them. He didn't worry about any betrayals due to an Unbreakable Vow of secrecy on all of their parts. It wouldn't even appear as though they died from a broken oath – before they could even tell anyone of the plan without permission they would appear to have a heart attack or other sort of organ failure.

It was perfect.

Still, it was rather disappointing just how easy it had been to arrange this. He had less than twenty allies and they were about to usurp control of an entire country. Just a few powerful figures could do so much as long as they had contacts and resources. It wasn't as if he even wanted to rule. All he wanted was a few favors and he would leave the country behind forever.

Harry apparated to his room at one of the inns in Knockturn Alley and collapsed into his bed. He could get everything else done during the week. Thoughts of reclaiming his parents engulfed his dreams.

XxXxXxXx

It was time. Harry hadn't felt so excited in a very, very long time. The preparations were complete and the Wizengamot was about to assemble. He could see the first of the condemned men walking in, cheerfully talking to one of the other Wizengamot members.

He had been snuck in by Lucius this morning. The man had paid more than a thousand galleons in discrete bribes to let the disillusioned Harry through, although he promptly obliviated them. They would keep the money as a bonus, although they would likely be curious as to where they received it.

The Wizengamot chamber was incredibly easy to get through. Lucius' pet aurors let them through, although they didn't know of Harry's presence. They hadn't asked why Lucius had left either, although he reminded them of their instructions.

Harry was disillusioned behind one of the massive stone pillars that were purely for show. Dumbledore wouldn't even know he was there, since he wouldn't be able to see the barely noticeable ripples that were the telltale signs of a disillusioned individual.

His wand was vibrating as he grew more and more excited. This was the riskiest thing that he had ever done, but if he pulled it off he would be great. Nothing Hadrian the Mercenary had done had even come close to amounting to this.

Slaying a rising dark lord? Please, he was about to become the undisputed ruler of Britain at the age of fifteen, even if the world wouldn't know it. His little conspirators wouldn't be able to refuse him anything.

Harry waited for another hour, grinning widely the entire time. He had taken a double dose of the aging potion, just in case he had to address his conspirators afterward. They probably wouldn't require him for a few days, considering that they would be doing their jobs and smoothing out any complications. The purge of the Ministry would start the moment he acted.

Finally, when most of the seats had been filled Dumbledore arrived. The ancient wizard smiled at the assorted wizards and witches, although Harry expected he frowned as he noticed nearly half the body missing as well as Minister Fudge. Harry saw him shrug and begin to address the Wizengamot.

"For this meeting," Dumbledore began in his powerful, wise voice, "we will be dealing with the issue of …."

Harry stopped listening, confident the powerful wizard hadn't noticed him. He edged out from around the pillar, glad that the powerful orbs of light that illuminated the room was hiding his presence. They were straight above him, and the powerful rays were too bright for anyone to see the slight ripples in the air as he moved.

His heart raced in sheer excitement as he leveled his wand at Dumbledore's back, although he slightly regretted the death of the powerful wizard. Wizards with that kind of strength only came only a few times a century, and Harry knew that even he couldn't match the old wizard.

The teenager aimed carefully, aware that a single slip up could cost him his life. When he was sure of his aim he whispered the words that would change Britain forever.

"Avada Kedavra." No one could have heard the words. Harry could barely hear them, the pounding of blood in his ears washing the noise out. A sickly green light erupted from the tip of his wand before flashing out towards the ancient wizard.

As the green light streaked towards Dumbledore at speeds too fast for even the average wizard to see, Dumbledore turned around. Harry was sure he had simply sensed the dark magic flashing towards him. With speed that Harry was sure only he and Dumbledore could reach, the ancient man tried to draw his wand and prepare a defense.

The light was too fast. As powerful as Dumbledore was, even he couldn't escape the killing curse. It landed into the old wizard's frail chest, and screams of horror erupted throughout the chamber as the Wizengamot saw their leader collapse to the ground.

Harry felt a twinge of regret, but still exulted in his victory. He strode toward the podium, carefully avoiding Dumbledore's body. The man would get an honorable burial and Harry would ensure his body wasn't devoured by the dark fire that would soon engulf the room.

He dropped the disillusionment, allowing the Wizengamot to see his face. Several killing curses and stunners flashed towards him from the body, but he conjured slabs of stone to block them. Harry raised his wand and the politicians realized they couldn't win. There were no more attacks.

"Wizengamot," he roared, his voice deep and strong, "I am afraid that this is the end of this august body. I thank for your previous service, but your rule ends today!"

Harry wasted no more time with words and raised his wand. Several curses lashed out from the stands, but they were blocked by his stone. He gritted his teeth and whispered the incantation for fiendfyre.

The rush of dark magic filled his body with a mixture of pain and euphoria before blasting out the tip of his wand. Roaring flames tore out, seeking to twist back and devour their creator as it formed into the shapes of dragons and wyverns as well as other magical monstrosities.

Harry roared as he exerted his will over the flames, forcing them to rush at the Wizengamot. He almost felt pity for the wizards and witches as they screamed in panic and agony. The fiendfyre devoured them the moment it touched them, the flaming maws of the dragons and beasts incinerating their clothing and turning their flesh to ash.

He ceased paying attention to their cries as the power of the fiendfyre began to drain him. Harry let it go on for another few seconds before forcing his will upon the writhing form of the inferno, forcing the enchanted flames to extinguish themselves.

Harry realized he had closed his eyes to protect them from the heat. His face was burning hot from the sheer power of the spell, and he was dusted in ash. The teenager grimaced and ignored the slight weakness in his limbs to clean himself up with a few charms.

The wizard took Albus Dumbledore's hand and activated the portkey. He and the frail corpse of one of the greatest wizards in history vanished from the former Wizengamot chamber, now little more than a room of ash and bone.

He landed in his room, Dumbledore's corpse at his side. Harry noticed that the man was covered in ash, something that was remedied by a mere flick of his wand. Now that he was relatively safe, he examined Dumbledore closer. The man's bright blue eyes were open and stared into his ceiling. Dumbledore had been untouched by the fiendfyre, aside from the thin layer of ash that had accumulated on him.

Harry shrugged and began to transfigure Dumbledore into a bone or rock when he noticed the man was still tightly gripping his wand. He frowned at that, realizing that the man should have gone completely slack in death.

The wizard took the expertly crafted wand from the tight grip of the ancient wizard. Harry hissed as he touched it, feeling the sheer power that flowed through it. He smiled as the shock wore off and looked at the wand in curiosity.

It was clearly ancient. A small symbol was engraved into the wood – Harry thought that it was made of elder, a rarity in itself since the wood was said to be unlucky – and Harry thought it looked like a triangle with a circle and line down the middle, and faded runes had also been carved into the length of wood.

Harry didn't care about its looks. He cared about its power. Although his wand was a powerful one – just like all phoenix feather wands – it paled in comparison to this one. The teenager grinned as the wand seemed to grow cold in his hand, a stark comparison to the comforting warmth of his own.

He quietly placed his new wand – he couldn't think of it as Dumbledore's wand, not when it felt so _right _with him – in his small leather holster. Harry frowned for a moment before withdrawing it again. He'd almost forgotten a rather important task that had been burned into his mind by William.

The wizard tapped his phoenix feather wand to the cold wood of _his_ new wand, whispering, "Invictus."

A small silver glow briefly surrounded the elder wand before settling into the cold wood. He grinned as the charm that would make his new wand unbreakable succeeded. Harry then placed his new wand in the leather holster.

His phoenix feather wand went into the second holster that William had demanded he have, just in case he needed to hold someone else's wand. Harry might even use it again one day, should the new wand not perform to his lofty expectations.

Harry suddenly remembered the corpse that was currently on his floor. He withdrew his wand and transfigured Dumbledore into a small coin. His wand grew cold as it worked, transforming Dumbledore with an ease he had never felt before. He picked up the coin and placed it in his pocket. Dumbledore could be given a burial when he knew everything was under control.

He holstered his wand and waited. There was nothing else for him to do, and he was rather eager to know how well the plan had worked.

XxXxXxXx

Harry smiled at Lucius, the shadows of his room obscuring his face. The other man had just reported that his plan had worked with great success and that the purge of the Ministry was already underway. More than twenty workers with strong ties to Dumbledore or had rebellious tendencies had been rounded up. They were awaiting their sentences now.

"Good." Harry nodded in satisfaction. "Have you suppressed the investigation into the Wizengamot's deaths? I'm sure Fudge is bowing to your every whim now that you are the most powerful man in Britain."

"Of course." Lucius replied. "We actually already have the story for the Prophet to print. The takeover should be completely complete within a week. Most didn't realize that anything had happened."

"Good." Harry repeated. "Where are Zabini and Parkinson. I'm sure the others are finishing their own jobs right now, but I had expected them to be here."

"Zabini is at the Ministry doing something or another." Lucius explained. "Parkinson is probably consorting with criminals and mercenaries at the moment."

Harry nodded. "Tell them that I would like to see them later. And Lucius," he said to the man as he began to stand up, "make sure to get me when things are calm enough for me to visit Azkaban."

Lucius nodded, although he was looking at Harry with a barely concealed look of confusion. Harry just motioned for him to leave. He had given them complete power over Britain. The least they could do was to not question him.

He frowned for a moment as he wondered what the death eaters would do with such great power but quashed the worried feeling. They didn't matter to him, nor did the people of Britain. There were two people that he actually cared about in the Isles, and the conspirators didn't count amongst that number.

Harry frowned again and began to wait, idly twirling his new wand. Zabini and Parkinson had better come soon. He only had twelve hours before his aging potion wore off. After that he would have to cut contact for a few days to ensure he would be safe to continue using the potion. After that he would have a lot to do.

XxXxXxXxXx

He covered his face with his hand, shielding himself against the cold spray of salty water. The route to Azkaban had been just as brutal as the first time, albeit smoother. A trained wizard directed the boat this time, and it showed.

The great fortress of Azkaban was visible, the mist produced by the dementors covering the bottom of the massive prison. Harry looked at it with trepidation, more nervous than he had been when destroying the Wizengamot. He had been waiting to return to this place for three days, lazily relaxing in his room and listening to the reports from the other conspirators. They had all been exultant in the success of the coup, and had quickly read off their achievements before running off to take their places as Masters of Britain.

Harry had a slight smile on his face as he thought of the victories he had achieved. At the age of fifteen he had left a greater mark on the world than most people did in their entire lives. And for his rather simple labors he would soon reap his rewards.

Finally the small boat docked at the pier. The auror guarding it, recognizing his importance due to the orders from the warden, nervously saluted and greeted him.

"Hello, sir." The average looking man said tightly, looking at Harry's impressive frame and cold eyes with barely concealed fear. "I am to escort you to the meeting room to collect your prisoners. The Lestranges will be brought in shortly."

"Thank you for your assistance." Harry said as he followed the auror into the fortress. The air was still just as dank and cold as before, and he had to fight a shiver off as he felt the dementors begin to influence him. His escort produced a patronus – a small, bouncing terrier – even as Harry tightened his occlumency shields.

Harry nodded to him in thanks as the patronus kept the cold at bay, restoring warmth to the prison. He still kept his occlumency shields raised, not willing to let the dementors affect him in the least. Once the auror saw that he was okay he led Harry through a great many halls before finally arriving before a stone door.

Two hard-faced aurors stood in front of it, their warmly glowing guardians the only thing standing between them and insanity. They looked up at Harry and his escort with dull, tired eyes. When they recognized the auror they opened the thick stone door with a few complex wand motions.

He entered into a small meeting room. A polished stone table sat in the center, surrounded by several wooden chairs. Two fireplaces kept the room warm, although he noticed that the depressing feeling that pervaded the rest of the fortress was absent.

"Please take a seat." His escort said to him. "The prisoners will be in shortly. After they are bound and rendered harmless we will leave you all alone. Should you deem them ready to leave we will release them."

"Thank you for your time." Harry said politely. The auror nodded and left the room.

Harry took one of the stiff wooden chairs, ignoring the discomfort that came with it. The uncomfortable sensation did not bother him, not when he was so close to speaking to his family again. Perhaps Azkaban would make Bella see him as a better alternative, halfblood or not.

He waited for several minutes, growing more and more impatient as time passed on. Finally the even thicker stone door that he was facing slowly creaked open, revealing four pale-faced aurors levitating in the emaciated forms of Bellatrix and Rodolphus.

The wizard looked at them oddly, and one of the aurors answered his unasked question.

"They've still got fight left in them." She said, silently glaring at the duo. "The woman tried to scratch Hollingsworth's eyes out. Had to call in the dementors to break them."

Harry nodded in understanding. "Please release them. I have many questions."

"Alright, but be careful." She said, still eying the Lestranges with hatred. "They'll try to pull something, no matter how suicidal it is."

"I can deal with it."

She nodded and motioned to the aurors behind her. They released the levitation charm, allowing the Lestranges to collapse heavily onto the cold stone. Before the tired couple could try to do anything the aurors quickly cuffed their hands and forced them into the chairs. Then the aurors bound them heavily, rendering any attempt at escape by the Lestranges completely futile.

Harry looked cautiously at the Lestranges, voicing his thanks to the aurors as they left the room. They were all alone. He continued eying the wasted forms of his parents, unsure if they would even be responsive to his questions. Neither looked to have suffered beatings, but that stroke of good fortune was likely due to the heavy presence of the dementors in their level of the prison. The guards wouldn't be able to stay conscious in the area long enough to punish them for their previous crimes.

"Rodolphus." He said slowly and clearly. "Can you hear me?"

Rodolphus looked at him and sneered at Harry when he heard his name. Harry took a moment to carefully examine him, comparing the figure before him to the cold, confident man he had known a year ago. His Rodolphus had been sickly looking at times from the stress of their lives, but he had always exuded confidence and power. This cruel imitation of Rodolphus stared at him with blank eyes, his dark brown hair oily and matted. There was no confidence anymore, no life. Just a husk.

"Rodolphus." He said firmly, biting down his own revulsion at the man that sat before him. "Answer me. It's me, Harry."

The man looked at him with blank eyes, struggling to recognize him. Suddenly the dark eyes Harry had once feared were no longer blank. They held deep-seated hatred and revulsion as they looked at him.

"What are you doing here, boy!" Rodolphus screamed, his voice hoarse and tired. Harry jerked back as the man screamed, unused to Rodolphus speaking in anything but a low, commanding tone. "Filthy half-blood, bane of our Lord!"

Harry jerked back, stung at the sheer cruelty of Rodolphus' words. He didn't sound like himself, more like a male impersonator of Bellatrix at her worst. The younger wizard grit his teeth at the mention of his blood and Voldemort. The man had rarely mentioned either.

"Supposed to be a gift." The man suddenly muttered, looking at Harry with wild eyes. "Nice and fun for our Lord to use and kill. Had to train so boy could help us. Happy when we find Lord and he takes boy for his own. The Lord will kill you." He screamed the last sentence, causing Harry to jerk back again.

Was that all he was to Rodolphus? A gift to Voldemort if they ever found him, a plaything and tool to use before killing him in cold blood? Harry had never been deluded enough in his desire for a family to think that Rodolphus loved him – never that. But he had thought Rodolphus had grown somewhat fond over the years as he trained him to be the very best he could be.

Harry grit his teeth and ignored Rodolphus' mad mutterings. Perhaps this was merely the deluded mindset of a man tormented in Azkaban for more than a year. It had to be.

"Bellatrix." He said to the silent, destroyed figure of a woman. Bella's long, thick hair was matted by grime and dirt and her once flawless skin was pale and waxy. Azkaban had hit her the hardest, it seemed. Rodolphus was actually recognizable; not like this skull faced woman. Bella looked as though she had been starved this entire time.

Perhaps she had been. He growled in anger, despite his own enmity towards this version of Bellatrix.

"Can you hear me?" He repeated. "It's me, Harry."

She slackened for a moment before finally looking up at him. Her twisted and tangled hair hung over her bony face, and he could only tell where her eyes were by the glint of the light. Harry frowned as he saw what she had become, feeling a surge of anger rise up before he crushed it. Now was not the time.

Suddenly she let loose a loud, piercing scream of pure hatred. Harry didn't flinch away this time, instead simply staring at her. She finally stopped and stared at Harry, flipping her matted hair out her face. He could see the violet eyes that he had once trusted and found comfort in staring at him with more hatred than he could even begin to comprehend.

This was the true Bellatrix, the one who hadn't been manipulated and remade by Rodolphus. This was the woman whose sanity had been slowly decaying her entire life even before she had been put into Azkaban. Her mind seemed completely gone now; just a few shattered emotions and jumbled strands of memories.

"You!" She shrieked; her voice hoarser than Rodolphus'. "Bane of my Lord; twister of my mind! My Lord will love me when I bring him the ickle Potter that thought he was a Lestrange! He will laugh and laugh as I dance on your corpse and present your little half-blood head on a platter!"

Harry glared hatefully back, not nearly as stunned by her proclamation as he was by Rodolphus'. He knew this _bitch's_ thoughts about him, how she despised every moment she had spent with him in her twisted mind.

He would free her anyways, he thought in his rage engulfed mind. They would both be free, and he would show them what he had become while they were rotting in Azkaban. They would forget their so-called Lord.

Harry withdrew his wand, the hilt turning icy as it sensed his rage. His sadness at Rodolphus' rejection had evaporated, transformed into scorn and hatred. The teenager leveled his wand at his parents, the tip releasing swirls of golden mist.

"Imperio!" He roared. The magic, amplified by his new wand's power, washed over the couple. Their emaciated forms went slack as their minds relaxed to his demands.

_You will love me_.


	6. Chapter Six: Alone

A/N: The end of this story is drawing near. I plan on ending it within two or three chapters, and I hope that everyone is happy with it. Review if you have liked this story so far or have any questions.

Harry was in a small, dirty little tavern getting drunk for the third time in his life. The first two had been enough of a deterrent to keep him from consuming such copious amounts of alcohol, but he had found that this was what he needed for now. Sweet, stupid oblivion.

He had only recently realized just how badly he had screwed up. It was rare that he succumbed to his recently discovered self-pity enough to fall to these depths, but Harry finally understood what the mercenaries had seen in the disgusting drink. Sometimes things just needed to be dulled.

The aftermath of his magnificent coup was nowhere near what he had expected. Harry had expected to take his parents – who were now imprisoned in a small home he had bought, docilely regaining their strength – and simply leave Britain, never to return to that damn island. He had thought he would simply move on with his life, slowly reestablishing his relationship with his parents until they could be trusted again.

None of that ended up happening. He had bought the small house as a retreat and had begun to take contracts again to keep a steady income, but everything just felt dull. His parents were just as mindless as when he first found them, although they now muttered comforting sentiments of love to him rather than screaming about Voldemort.

But whatever satisfaction and glee he had been expecting to feel from his parents love was noticeably absent. He simply felt disgust and emptiness as he looked at the husks of the people he had once known, revulsion as he saw their empty eyes light up with love and adoration whenever he saw them. The imperius had warped their minds permanently, something he had learned after he took it off in the hopes of using weaker potions to guarantee their docility. They were trapped like this, and he even felt disgust at himself for being so careless.

Harry rarely even returned to the peaceful home. He found himself wallowing in his self-pity even two years afterwards, a stark difference from his true demeanor. The wizard gripped the liquor filled glass that was in front of him, sending small cracks through it from his immense strength. His gloves did little to dampen the glow erupting from his magical appendages.

It seemed that the Lestranges would be forever lost to him, little more than a cherished memory that he could never let go of. The thought of killing them and finally giving the tortured couple peace crossed his mind, although he immediately crushed the thought. They were_ his_, no matter how badly they had been broken.

The wizard continued to drown in his emotions, the normally controlled feelings growing stronger and stronger as he drank. He finally began to lose control, his powerful magic lashing out at those around him. Harry paid the annoyed and fearful glances no notice, opting instead to focus on the two very long years since he had rescued Bella and Rodolphus from Azkaban.

Harry snarled as the thoughts continued to swim around in his mind and reached for another glass to drink. He wouldn't be satisfied until he couldn't feel anymore. The wizard growled as a pale hand grabbed his wrist, keeping him from reaching the wonderful drink.

"I think you've had enough." The owner of the hand said smoothly. Their Italian accent was starkly out of place in this German bar, and Harry blearily turned around to identify them.

"You don't know that." He slurred, staring at a beautiful face that was oddly familiar. "Now le—let go."

"I'll let you go once you drink this." The pretty woman said, putting a small flask in front of him. Despite his inebriation Harry wasn't about to drink a random liquid. He smelled it and identified it as sobering potion.

"I don't want it." He slurred again, knocking the steel container over as he wildly waved his arm. The woman growled in annoyance and grabbed the flask, unstopping it and moving it towards his mouth.

Harry tried to stop the three flasks he saw from reaching him, but the alcohol had dulled his reflexes considerably. He blocked one of the flasks and dumbly looked at the area in confusion as his hand passed through it. His confusion was enough for the woman to push the flask into his mouth and pour the vile potion down his throat.

He hissed as the potion began to act, burning away any trace of inebriation. It wasn't pleasant, and he felt fire flood through his veins before the pain finally stopped, leaving nothing but cold awareness in its wake. A brief surge of pain flashed through his head for a moment before vanishing, leaving him completely sober and very, very annoyed.

"What do you want?" He growled to Zabini. She met his gaze evenly, unimpressed by the former drunk. "I gave you a country. What more could you want from me?"

Zabini nervously glanced around and motioned for him to quiet down.

"We need your help. I have a room for us to speak in. Now follow me."

Harry shrugged and followed her, keeping a hand on his wand. He didn't trust her, and certainly didn't like the fact that she had managed to find him, but he had to admit that he was curious as to what she wanted. Besides, she wasn't wearing the heavy robes fashionable in Britain so the view was rather nice.

"Did you rent a private room just for me?" He asked in amusement. "How sweet. But aren't you afraid that the other patrons will think you're doing something…untoward with me?"

"I am not foolish enough to try anything of the sort with you." Zabini sniffed. "Not after the things you've done."

He just smiled as they crossed into the dirty room. "Is this the private room?" Harry asked in faux annoyance. "I know that this place is a disease infested hellhole, but surely you could have shelled out a bit more money."

"Quiet." The Italian woman snapped. "I didn't come here simply so you could irritate me."

"Then what did you come for?" Harry growled; losing the joking edge he had kept. "I specifically told each of you that I never wanted to return to Britain. When the coup was complete I would leave until I needed something from you. Never did I say that you could simply seek me out."

Zabini deflated. "We are on the brink of losing our power." She admitted to Harry. "One of us failed to meet our objective, and one of the Order members gained knowledge of the operation. A civil war is breaking out, and the resistance has been growing every day."

"So crush it under your heels." Harry said coldly. "I put you in your thrones, now it is your time to defend them. You have an entire Ministry at your disposal and resources the rebels can't hope to match. Put them to use."

"Don't you think we've tried?" Zabini hissed, features twisting in rage. "They are just as well supplied as we are, and are being aided by several other Ministries that have received word of the coup. The French have sent their attack dogs into Britain and we are powerless to resist some of the most dangerous mercenaries in the world."

Harry perked up a bit at the mention of the mercenaries, silently wondering which had been sent in. He flattened his expression quickly and looked towards Zabini in amusement.

"And what do you want me to do about it?" He asked curiously. "I am but one man. A powerful man, but I cannot defeat entire nations."

"That's not what we're asking for." Zabini said impatiently, pacing the room as she spoke. "You have clearly mastered magic beyond what we are capable of, and we want your aid. We are not generals. We cannot win this war without a leader. Infighting has already begun to plague our ranks and we must present a united front."

Harry sat back into the brittle wooden chair he had occupied, silently considering the situation. He didn't want to return to Britain, although the brewing war was appealing to him. The new regime had been put into place solely so he could regain Bellatrix and Rodolphus, so he had no loyalty or responsibility towards the new regime. But he had grown in power since the coup, and he felt the urge to use it. His wand grew cold in his hand as the thoughts of war and conquest arose in his mind.

As his wand radiated its approval, Harry smiled. He hadn't had a challenge in_ so_ long. Even the most difficult of the contracts he picked up here in Eastern Europe – he had stayed far away from France, trying to break ties there to prevent the Lestranges from being discovered – were ridiculously simple for him now. Between his wand's sheer power and his own mastery of magic he was invincible. Everything had become rather dull, to be honest.

But this wasn't a mere raid or assassination. This was a _war_. There were no laws or stipulations on a contract holding him back. Harry would be free to unleash his might and fury upon the world, and no one would be able to stop him. A bloodthirsty grin split his face, and he noticed that Zabini shivered in discomfort.

"Alright." Harry said. Zabini smiled and began to say something, but he cut her off. "But I have a few conditions that must be met."

"Name them." She said confidently.

"First, you will not attempt to restrain me. Second, I am allowed to do anything necessary for the war effort. Third, you make sure the global community sees this as a British conflict, not an international one. Without their aid the rebels will surely fall."

Zabini nodded in satisfaction, clearly sure that the conditions would be easily met. She held out her delicate, gloved hand. Harry looked at it in confusion for a moment before glancing up at her.

"My glove is a portkey specifically tailored for you." She explained. "Take my hand and you will find yourself in our war room. You will be debriefed on the situation there."

He took her hand, keeping his hand tightly gripped on his wand. Harry wasn't sure if the old conspirators were planning a trap for him or not – wrapping up loose ends, as it were – and wanted to be ready for anything.

The moment he gripped it, the world flashed away and he found himself in a whirlwind. Harry was slightly dazed for a moment before he landed heavily on the ground, his bent knees absorbing most of the impact. He grimaced; international portkeys were so much worse than normal ones.

Harry looked around at his new surroundings. He was in a dim, circular room. Several figures in crimson robes surrounded him, and he saw the familiar face of Lucius Malfoy standing proudly in front of him. He fought down the urge to kill the man for his previous grievances and simply uttered a greeting.

"Hello, Lucius." He said easily. The aurors stiffened as they felt his aura of power wash over them, and he could see that they had their hands on their wands. "I see you are looking well."

"If only I could say the same for you." Lucius replied drily.

"Ms. Zabini caught me at a most inopportune time." Harry said, falling into the old persona he had built up for the conspirators. He had so many different faces and personalities for different situations that it was as natural as breathing.

Lucius' lip curled in some semblance of a smile. Harry had to fight down the urge to curse it off.

"A shame. I suppose she informed you of the basic situation we are facing?"

"Indeed." Harry nodded. "She told me that all of you – her included – are too weak and corrupt to defend your thrones. Not so bluntly, of course, but the sentiment was still there."

Zabini and Lucius glared at him in annoyance, but he shrugged it off. They had no power over him. Besides, if the aurors decided to try and apprehend him he could test just how far he had advanced. Lucius suddenly glanced at the aurors.

"Leave us." He commanded. The crimson robed men nodded and swept out of the room, closing the door behind them. With them gone, he returned his focus to Harry. "We are at war. The rebels are spread out, but they are well-armed and are growing more powerful every day. Some of their hideouts are too well defended for us to attack. Soon they might become brazen enough to raid the Ministry itself."

Harry nodded, although he didn't care about the rebels themselves. They were not the real threats. The foreign countries sending them aid in an attempt to weaken Britain were the true enemy. If they were forced to back off than the rebels would lose their source of funding. Of course, there were other concerns that needed to be address. Very personal concerns.

"Tell me the identities of the French mercenaries."

Lucius looked surprised, but acquiesced to the request. He summoned a small black notebook to him and began to rapidly flip through the pages.

"The majority are nothing special, little more than fodder and additional manpower. But a few are famed and feared for their power and ruthlessness." The slimy man examined his notebook for a few moments before continuing. "The group doing the most damage to us – killing aurors and launching raids upon our own homes – are a small group, but extremely powerful."

Harry swallowed, fearing that he knew who these mercenaries were. He had hoped they wouldn't be sent into this conflict. Unfortunately the French Ministry hadn't been told of his hope.

"The most powerful and accomplished is a man known as William Walus." Lucius began, reading the information from his notebook. "He has no home or family that we can discover, and is enormously talented. He earned second place in the International Dueling Championship in 1989 and is notoriously efficient. Ten aurors sent to detain him were sent back to the Ministry in pieces.

The lone woman in the group is named Charlotte Durand. A French mudblood." Lucius remarked in distaste. "She never competed in any competitions, but she graduated first in her class from Beauxbatons and became a mercenary soon after leaving. The mudblood destroyed Nott's home with explosives."

Harry nodded, fighting down a grin as he heard of his old friends' exploits. It was perfectly in character for them. He was having to hide his distaste at the possibility of fighting his old allies, as he knew these would be the first he went after. It left a bad taste in his mouth, and he felt an odd twinge of guilt.

"And the last?" He asked calmly, hiding his revulsion at the tasks he would soon carry out. Harry had suspicions as to the identity of the last member of the group, but wanted to see if they would be confirmed.

"A twenty year old named Templar." Lucius said in annoyance. "We can't find any information on him, but we know that he is ruthless and brutally efficient in a battle. He's the worst of the lot. His most notable action is the execution of twenty captured aurors and the smuggling of a muggle bomb into the Ministry itself."

Lucius frowned for a moment, looking as though he were considering something. The pale man finally reached a decision and continued his debriefing.

"Our spy in the French Ministry told of us of another possible member of the group." Lucius admitted. "A teenager named Hadrian. He was said to be enormously powerful and efficient, but he disappeared a few years ago. The French are still looking for him in hopes of gaining his aid, but we don't know if they are simply sending us false information."

Harry privately froze at the mention of his name, but didn't react. "I'll look for him in combat." He said. "Now, do you have information on where they're staying?"

"Yes." Zabini interjected, suddenly appearing in Harry's vision. "We have the information on their current hideout. The area is filled with rebels as well, so we have been unwilling to attack. But with you here, I believe that we will be capable of destroying the key stronghold of one of the rebel sects."

Harry nodded in understanding. "Is everyone ready?"

"They will be in a few days." Zabini said. "We will contact you when everything is in position and the rebels are unable to escape. A room in the Ministry will be given to you. I will take you to it."

He nodded. "Are we done here?"

"Yes." Lucius said. "Your room will have access to the war room in case you need to review anything. Anything you need will be supplied."

Harry accepted and followed Zabini through the dark corridors of the Ministry, watching in amusement as the employees they crossed lowered their heads in deference to Zabini. They simply stared at him in confusion.

After an eternity of walking they reached a large wooden door. Zabini jabbed her wand at it and it easily swung open. She walked through the doorway and waved her wand when she was inside. Harry looked around the room in interest as it was suddenly illuminated.

It was bare and spartan in design. Plain wooden furniture decorated the room, and a large fireplace dominated the area to his right. The fireplace was made of marble, just like the other fireplaces in the Ministry and influential buildings, and was completely empty. A can of floo powder hung next to it.

The only other expensive looking thing in the room was a large wooden bed. Small scenes from history were engraved into the frame. Harry nodded in satisfaction as he examined his new home. It was decent enough, and he didn't plan on spending much time here anyways.

"This is satisfactory." He said to Zabini. "Now leave me. I need to sleep off that damn potion you gave me."

She left silently, leaving him completely alone. Harry put up a myriad of wards to keep anyone from entering his new room and completely blocked off the fireplace from anything except floo messages. He wasn't about to leave such a glaring flaw in his security unchecked.

When all that was over he walked over to the bed and collapsed, not bothering to take his clothes off. He was tired from the aftereffects of the sobering potion, and he needed to be in top shape for the upcoming battles.

It wasn't long before he fell asleep.

Xx

He was gearing up, putting the slightly inhibiting battle robes on. They were a dark grey color and had been heavily enchanted to block minor spells and curses, as well as a slightly greater degree of physical damage. Harry had enough experience to be just as wary of the shrapnel and other physical effects from spells as the actual magic itself.

The robes wouldn't block much of the magic William and the others would be using, but hopefully it could take the worst of it off. He was leaving his hands uncovered, something that he only did during combat situations. If he had to use wandless magic it would likely disintegrate whatever gloves he wore, and he didn't enjoy having to replace them.

Harry had just been called to the staging area in the Ministry. It had been four days since he'd arrived, and during that time he had obsessively pored over all of their information on the war. The rebels were very well equipped, possibly even better than the hit wizards. Aurors were much better than the average rebel, however, and possessed superior equipment.

What annoyed Harry was just how obvious the French and Spanish were assisting the rebels. Many of the more prominent groups were equipped with enchanted pieces of steel armor that blocked spells of average power, as well as the minor jinxes and hexes meant to inconvenience other fighters.

In itself, that wasn't so bad. The problem was that such armor was generally forged and enchanted in France and given to nearly all of their aurors. Besides, such equipment was incredibly difficult and expensive to procure even by the British Ministry, let alone isolated rebels.

He growled in annoyance and gripped his wand as he finished putting on his robes. They had quite a few straps that a normal person wouldn't be able to easily put on, but a single flick of his wand tied them together.

Now that he had finished getting his equipment on, he turned towards the leader of this raid. Normally they would have put him in charge, but he was the Ministry's little secret right now. They didn't want anyone to know they had their own powerful wizard in the war.

Harry recognized the leader – a former death eater that had been pardoned – as Rowle. He wasn't particularly skilled, but he had an intimidating figure and was notoriously brutal with his spells. One of his more famed offenses against humanity was the summoning of a captured auror's eyes from their body. A difficult task, since the body's magic tended to protect against such an action. To have performed it showed a decent amount of power and incredible mastery of the summoning charm.

He ignored the instructions Rowle was barking out, instead reviewing his own. The wards of the small compound had been broken and replaced with anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards. None of the inhabitants had a chance of escape, and they were being forced to fight for their lives. William and Charlotte were currently inside, or so their spy claimed, and Templar was off on his own mission.

His job was to eliminate them. Harry didn't like this job, and would be sure to try and convince his former mentors to simply leave Britain and this war, but he didn't expect them to listen. William would be sure to take offense at the actions being undertaken by the current regime, and Charlotte wouldn't accept the blow to her reputation that would result if she defaulted on this contract.

The thought of imperiusing them had crossed his mind more than once, although it had quickly been quashed. After the effect his imperius had had on Rodolphus and Bellatrix he wouldn't be using it on anyone he valued. Death would be preferable for them.

Even though he knew that his imperius was merely the last straw for the decaying sanity of the Lestranges to finally snap, he was slightly afraid of the spell now. He hadn't used it since then, and didn't plan on using it again anytime soon. Even if it could save his mentors' lives should they decide to reject his offering of peace, he would prefer that they simply die. It would be easier for him.

Suddenly, the portkey given to him as he entered began to glow. Even as it whisked him off to the compound he gripped his wand, enjoying the icy feeling that spread through his hand.

Harry rolled to the right as soon as he landed, not about to let anyone ambush him while he was still stunned. Fortunately there was no ambush, just a large group of thirty aurors regaining their senses. He stayed in the very back, watching curiously as the aurors formed into pairs of two, except for a few in the very front. They were led by Rowle and had a massive squad of eleven aurors.

He frowned at how tightly packed the groups were. A few blasting curses would tear the formations apart. Nevertheless he simply watched as they walked through the trees towards a small white building. It looked small from here, but it was likely many times larger on the inside thanks to a judicious use of expansion charms.

Rowle didn't bother checking for wards, trusting in the curse breakers abilities. He leveled his wand at the door and blasted it down, only to be hit by a cutting curse the moment the door was down. The former death eater roared in fury and raised a protego, ignoring the shallow gash that had erupted on his chest.

The hulking blonde man dropped the shimmering shield for a split second in order to throw a killing curse through the door. Harry could hear screams erupting from the building as the streak of light erupted from Rowle's wand. It seemed that it had hit someone.

Their screams seemed to be what Rowle was waiting for. He raised another protego and walked through the door, jumping to the right the moment he entered. Rowle's squad burst through after him, blocking the spells the defenders were undoubtedly firing at them with their own protegos.

Harry had seen enough of their amateurish tactics, instead opting to move to the side of the building. Several aurors watched him curiously, but didn't move to stop him as he circled around. When he found the back of the compound he leveled his wand and blasted a massive hole in the side.

He grinned as the icy approval of the wand flowed through him. The seventeen year old stepped through the large opening, carefully avoiding the rubble that had crashed down onto the stark white floor. Harry raised a shield as he entered, forcing the dust away.

When he entered several powerful penetrators slammed into his shield. He glanced around in annoyance as his icy blue shield glowed intensely from the stress before returning to normal. It was still standing strong, but he wanted to see William or Charlotte. They were the only people he knew that could afford to put that much power into their spells.

Harry stared into the pale blue eyes of Charlotte. She recognized him, and her eyes were wide in astonishment. His former partner was gaping at him in confusion, although she quickly raised a shield.

"Hello, Charlotte." He said easily, masking the revulsion at the deed he was about to commit. "It's been a while, has it not?"

"Where have you been?" She asked, her cold voice breaking slightly. "We looked everywhere for you after the first few months. William was about to run himself ragged trying to find you. Everyone thought you were dead."

"Many things have happened since we last met." Harry sighed. "And I'm afraid that I'm not liberty to discuss them with you. They have put us on opposite sides of this conflict, and I'm afraid that you won't take my offer."

Charlotte was glaring at him now, realizing that he was the enemy. "What offer?" She asked tersely, her eyes narrowing in anger.

"I don't want to fight you." He admitted. "We both know that it would be pointless on your part. You can't beat me, not after two years of training and perfection on my part. So I offer you a chance to leave. Go back to France and default on the contract, say that you have personal troubles."

"No." She replied frostily, still glaring at him. Harry supposed she was annoyed at his dismissal of her abilities, although they both knew his assessment was true. They were both legends in the ranks of the mercenaries, but he had become far superior to her.

"Please!" He begged. Harry had been disgusted by the thought of killing one of his few partners – dare he say friend? But the reality of facing such a situation was far worse. He had never begged before, and was surprised that he would do it now. But the alternative was far worse.

Charlotte softened a bit, but she still refused. "I can't default on the contract. Not when I can fight the monsters that have taken Britain. And your victory is not as certain as you would like, Hadrian."

She spoke her refusal in French, although he wasn't sure why. Harry noticed that she had been looking to the side, and he prepared himself for William. The powerful wizard had been here, but he had hoped that William would be fighting off the main force.

His suspicions were correct. William walked into the room, clearly ready for action. The older man's eyes softened as he saw Harry, but he didn't put down the shield he had raised.

"Hello, Harry." William said tersely. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm trying to save both of you." Harry said. "And if I fail in that, I will have to kill you."

"Why?" William asked, keeping his wand ready. "You can leave. I'm sure you know that what you're doing is wrong, even if morals don't mean in our line of business. But I can't – you know that."

"Please." Harry begged again, fearing that he would lose William and Charlotte. "You can't beat me. I have become more powerful than either of you could possibly imagine, and I don't want to use that power to kill you. You both know that I won't drop my contract."

"Well then," William said sadly, his eyes reflecting his sorrow, "I suppose it's time for our rematch. I never imagined it would be under these conditions."

Harry glared, suddenly angry. The wand encouraged his anger, flooding his body with its icy power. He had offered them life and peace, and they dared to throw it back against him! They could have lived, but now he had to kill them. He suddenly roared in anger, and his magic flared to life around him.

His hands glowed with the light of the sun as he focused his power, and he moved into action. Harry flicked his wand, sending a wall of impossibly hot white fire towards his former allies. William jabbed his wand towards it and forced it to curve around him. Charlotte simply dispersed it with her shield.

He wasn't nearly done yet. While they were distracted by the fire he had conjured dozens of sharp stone shards and flung them at his opponents. They both easily dodged them, although William was too slow and had to blast them apart with magic.

William made the next move. He jabbed his wand at Harry and whispered a word, his voice too soft for Harry to hear. That alone made Harry wary of the spell, since William could cast all but the most powerful of spells silently. His wariness was rewarded as immense quantities of water burst from the wand, more than enough to wash Harry and his shield away.

Charlotte fired a blasting cursed at him at the same time, and the world suddenly became cold as his wand came to his aid. His reflexes became even faster, and he could see the massive flood of water sweeping towards him. The blasting curse was just a few feet away, and it was slowly nearing him.

Harry moved fast, faster than he had even thought possible. He wondered if this was what Dumbledore had felt like as his killing curse had flashed towards the old man. His right hand moved in preparation as his left flicked his wand.

"Infernus!" He whispered, watching in awe as the dark flames bursting out of his wand slowly formed into the draconic form he had become familiar with and made contact with the water. His right hand batted away the blasting curse, sending the bright purple projectile careening into the wall.

Even as the fiendfyre met the _torrentus_ – he recognized the powerful water spell, and assumed that Templar had taught William the spell – he raised his shield. It was more focused towards physical protection, and easily blocked the massive quantities of hot steam that were produced as the fire and water mixed.

In the end both spells were canceled out and both of his opponents were forced to raise shields to keep from being scalded to death. Harry took advantage of the small reprieve to cast life sensing charms on his eyes, allowing him to detect his opponents through the obscuring cloud of steam. Normally he would have simply used a heat detection charm, but the heat from the steam would have blinded him.

Their outlines became visible, filled in by bright white light. Harry grinned and fired a penetrator at Charlotte. He forced an ungodly amount of power into it so that it would simply slice through her shield and then through her chest. Even if this was a fight to the death he wouldn't allow her to be roasted to death by the burning steam.

A shriek of pain cut through the steam, and Harry grimaced as he realized that the bright white light that identified Charlotte was fading. He waved his wand and a shield erupted into existence around her, preventing the steam from condemning her to an agonizing death.

Harry felt a deep well of sorrow and disgust as himself for what he had done, and an unfamiliar burning sensation in his eyes as well. He blinked to banish the burning feeling, but it persisted. A wave of his wand fixed the strange issue, however, and he returned his attention to William's form.

The older wizard seemed to realize just how bad of a situation the steam put him in, and instantly moved to remedy that. It took several quick motions with his wand for William to fix his problem. All of the steam coalesced into a small, dense ball that was compressed by magic. Another jab of William's wand transfigured the steam into a massive ball of water, which he then hurled at Harry.

All of that happened over the span of three seconds. It felt like so much longer to Harry, however, who had quickly formulated a strategy the moment he realized what William was doing. It was unfortunate that he couldn't use his skill with apparition to his advantage, thanks to the wards, but he could easily make do with other attacks.

As the ball of hot water launched towards him with enough force to break bones, Harry jabbed his wand at it. William scowled as the water froze, losing all of its previous momentum. Another jab of the wand shattered it, preventing William from making use of it again.

William responded with yet another brutally powerful spell. "Voragus!"

Harry's eyes widened as the spell tore a small chasm beneath him. He waved his wand, ensuring that the fall wouldn't hurt him too badly. Despite the slower fall, the impact was still painful. Harry was stunned for a few moments, more than enough time for William to take advantage of.

He was just beginning to regain his bearing when hundreds of gallons of freezing water began to flood the chasm. Harry's eyes widened as he saw the_ torrentus_ fall into the chasm, closing the twenty feet of distance rapidly. The teenager barely managed to conjure a shield before it fell upon him. Had he not had the shield ready, the sheer amount of water would have crushed him.

Harry was annoyed at William's confidence. Spells like torrentus and fiendfyre were notoriously draining, and although torrentus wasn't as hard to control it still took a lot of power. William must have been sure that the spell would kill or incapacitate Harry.

It would be nice to prove him wrong. Harry continued forcing power into his wand in order to keep the shield up, but forced more magic into his right hand. He waited until it began to light up even more and his forearm began to hurt before slamming it into the ground around him. The sheer amount of power in the hand disintegrated some of the earth, forcing more of the floor and ground to fall into the chasm.

Harry began to feel a flash of nervousness as he allowed the power in his hand to dissipate, leaving him slightly weakened. The shield was sapping his strength as well, and he needed to escape this situation. His mind raced in search of a solution, and he grinned as he thought of one. It was a good thing fiendfyre had ceased to weaken him as much over the years as his body and magic grew stronger and more accustomed to the strain.

He whispered the incantation, allowing the dark flames to burst from the tip of his wand. It tore through his shield, but before the massive weight of the water could crush him the flames formed into the shape of a dragon and burst upwards, evaporating the water and creating a billowing pillar of hot steam. Harry immediately extinguished the fiendfyre when it had rid him of the water in favor of creating a shield to keep the steam at bay.

Harry grinned and forced the shield up and away from his body, carrying the steam away from him. Now that he was relatively safe, he levitated his sweaty body out of the chasm and into the humid air. William stared at him in disbelief from behind the shield the older man had erected, but looked more than ready to continue the fight.

William made the first move, waving his wand and producing a wave of fire that launched towards Harry. The teenager snorted in annoyance and pushed his right hand outward. It dispersed the flame around him, giving Harry the chance to retaliate. He began to use simple spells that he could keep William on his toes with, although the man wouldn't be hurt by any of them. Harry disliked such weak attacks, but William had improved as much as he had. Flashy, powerful spells just wouldn't work.

His old teacher seemed to anticipate what he was about to do, as he managed to summon fiendfyre before anything but a small cutter hit him. The dark inferno devoured Harry's spells, and Harry finally learned just how terrifying facing fiendfyre was.

William's fiendfyre was lighter than his own, looking more like natural flames. Several monsters had appeared in the flames, spitting and roaring as they saw him. Their primordial intelligence and the drive of William's magic forced them to twist and crackle towards him. Harry gritted his teeth as the raging inferno neared him, wishing he had learned the _torrentus _spell sometime over the last few years.

Nevertheless, Harry did not give into his fear. The icy power of his wand flooded through him, magnifying his unnaturally fast reflexes to an even greater extreme and allowing him to retaliate. He whipped his wand upwards and decided to fight fire with fire.

"Infernus!" He roared. His own fiendfyre roared out of the wand, his mastery of it showing as it immediately sprang towards the other flames. Harry could just barely see William through the roaring flames, the two powerful creations of magic vying for dominance. The man was tiring, clearly not used to the sheer power of fiendfyre.

Harry grinned and continued to tightly control the dark inferno, his grin growing wider as it began to engulf the smaller flames. When William had finally dropped to his knees, Harry extinguished the inferno. He wouldn't consign William to such an inglorious fate.

He was cautious as he neared the downed man, well aware of William's tricks. As he neared the man, wand raised, William suddenly raised his own wand and fired a bludgeoner. Harry sneered and batted it away, although he recognized that the bludgeoner was merely a diversion.

William suddenly stood up and charged at him, wildly firing killing curses around Harry. Harry tried to conjure stones, but William was too close. The man roared and tackled into the teenager, his greater bulk forcing Harry to the ground.

Harry was slightly stunned from the impact, but the first punch to the face snapped him out of it. He growled and slid his wand a foot away so that William couldn't take it and then caught the next punch with his left hand. His right launched up in a brutal punch to William's gut.

He kicked the man off of him and quickly picked his wand up before rising. William had recovered as well, although he was wheezing from the blow. Harry began to twist his wrist repeatedly, summoning powerful winds. They quickly gained enough power to force William to use sticking charms on his feet, causing him to lose the mobility that he could use to his advantage.

Harry continued to increase the strength of the winds until it was about to uproot William and send him flying around the room. He suddenly stopped the motion of his wand, allowing the winds to die down a little. It wasn't an act of mercy, however. A moment later he transfigured the top few centimeters of the floor into sand.

When the wind had begun to pick it up and fling it around the room at high speeds, Harry began to steadily increase the power of the wind again. William was barely hanging on, his strength being drained by the shield that kept his flesh from being ground off by the sand.

Harry suddenly whipped his wand backwards, pulling all of the sand out of the wind and calming the air. The sand solidified into a loose block before he jabbed his wand at it, changing the sand into a stone lance. He then launched it at William, who hadn't let his shield down yet. The man hurriedly tried to remove the sticking charms on his feet, but Harry was too fast.

Even Harry winced as the stone spear shattered the shield and slammed into William. It wasn't sharp, so he wasn't simply impaled on the stone, but he looked like he had internal damage and broken ribs. Harry took full advantage of the moment, however, and disarmed him and froze most of William's body. When he was sure the man wouldn't have a chance of fighting back, Harry walked over.

"I suppose that I still won." Harry said bitterly as he stood over William's frozen body. The man wanly smiled up at him.

"I never expected anything different." William laughed, although it soon descended into a coughing fit. "The student always surpasses the master."

Harry blankly nodded, silently wishing that he had just accidently killed William during the fight. It would have been so much easier than having to face him, knowing that in just a few minutes he would kill the one person that had done more for him than the Lestranges. The Lestranges were just a memory, and since their motivations for aiding him had revealed they had become a rather unpleasant one.

William, however, was real. He had no hidden motivations or plans for him aside from having Harry become the best he could possibly be. The man had saved Harry's life, demanding nothing but for Harry to improve and polish his formidable skills. William was a better parent than either of the Lestranges had been. It would be painful to kill him, a feeling Harry had never had before.

"Listen, Harry." William said, breaking the tense, sad silence. "I don't know why you're helping these bastards, and I can't condone anything you do for them, but don't let yourself become a monster. Don't believe the garbage they're spouting."

"I won't." Harry promised, slowly leveling his wand at the immobilized man. He noticed that he was feeling that odd burning sensation in his eyes again. "And Wiliam? Thank you. For everything."

"Avada kedavra." He whispered. Harry noticed that a tear was running down the side of the face as the sickly green light slammed into William. It was a quick and easy death, and the man never felt any pain. He wiped his eyes and turned the wand back to William's corpse, forcing down the lump in his throat and the revulsion he felt at what he had done. A quick jab transfigured the warm body into an iron coin with William's face on the side.

Harry carefully picked the coin up and slipped it into his pocket before turning to Charlotte's body. She was only about ten feet away, and looked to be relatively unscathed. He quietly walked over and examined her.

Charlotte's face was much more relaxed than it had ever been in life. Instead of the cold, hard look on her face that made her resemble a statue she was slack and peaceful looking. Harry looked over the rest of her body, searching for the mark left from the shield penetrator. It had gone cleanly through her chest, leaving a small hole burned through it.

Harry grimaced and felt the revulsion again. He had never been as close to Charlotte as he had William and she hadn't known of his true age, but she had been one of the closest people to him during that wonderful year of being a mercenary. Her loss was a grievous one. She wasn't much of a friend to most, but the loss of one of the very few people he cared about was a terrible blow.

The lump in his throat reappeared as he realized that there was no one else close to him that was still alive. Bellatrix and Rodolphus might be living, but their minds were broken beyond repair. They would be better off dead, and they weren't the Lestranges he knew regardless. William and Charlotte were dead by his own hand, which meant that he was truly alone for the first time in a long while.

He ruthlessly quashed the feelings down as they threatened to overwhelm him, instead leveling his wand at Charlotte's body and transfiguring it into another iron coin. Harry reverently picked it up and placed it into his pocket, right next to William's coin.

With his job done, he exited the room. No doubt the aurors would be confused when they found the expanded room that bore evidence of fiendfyre and had a great chasm in it, but he just didn't care anymore. Harry needed to be alone for a while.

Harry apparated the moment he was outside the wards, his mind and magic directing him to a location he had never thought to be at again.

XxXx

Harry looked around as he landed upon cold stone. He was on the peak of one of the numerous mountains near Hogwarts, and he could even see the small village of Hogsmeade off in the distance. The mountain wasn't a large one, but it had a nice view and seemed to be a deserving resting place for those that he respected or was close to.

He reverently withdrew the pair of iron coins from within his pocket and placed them on the ground before returning them to their true forms. When they were laid out peacefully he turned towards the marble mausoleum that he had constructed with the aid of his new wand. For an average wizard marble was impossible to permanently transfigure and mold to their desire, but Harry had never been average.

Dumbledore's preserved body was in the marble tomb, kept identical in death as it was in life by Harry's preservative charms. Harry paid his respects to one of the few wizards that had been more powerful than him before beginning his work.

The wand was nicely cold in his hand as he changed the earth into smooth, perfect marble. Harry's face was calm as his hand moved in familiar motions, manipulating the wand in order to craft and mold the raw marble. Slabs were hollowed out and bent in order to create the resting place of his fallen comrades, somewhere where their bodies would lay undisturbed for eternity.

It was more than an hour before he was satisfied. Two small, plain tombs had been constructed, each with a coffin that would accommodate the bodies perfectly. The tomb was plain, but the marble was a suitable material for the resting place of two of the greatest mercenaries in the world.

When the mausoleum was complete, he carefully began to cast a myriad of preservative charms upon the two bodies. They would remain perfect for all eternity, protected against the elements and microbes that would cause the bodies to decay.

Harry felt the lump in his throat reappear as he carefully levitated William's body into one of the two marble tombs that stood equal to Dumbledore's. He carefully placed it into the rectangular coffin and levitated the heavy marble lid onto the coffin, enclosing the preserved body in darkness.

He walked back outside and carefully repeated the process with Charlotte's body. Harry was particularly gentle with it, as he didn't want to accidently mar the corpse more than he already had with the spell that had killed her.

It didn't take long before his last friends were permanently enclosed in their tombs, free from any war or the ravages of the environment. Powerful protective wards were set up when he had entombed Dumbledore here, and he had returned the past year to refresh them. None would tamper with the bodies.

Harry felt the lump in his throat slowly wear away, although that burning in his eyes never went away. He paid his respects to the dead, and for some reason talked to them as though they were still alive. The teenager didn't understand why he did that. It wasn't as if they could hear him. Still, it made the foreign emotions engulfing him easier to deal with.

When he was done, the emotions had calmed. Harry was left with an empty feeling, although that was beginning to be filled by his normal feelings. He frowned as he looked out over the land, wondering just how soon it would be before it was torn apart by the war.

Harry shrugged and took one last lingering look at the tombs before apparating away.

XxXxXx

It was a month before he was called in again, needed to address the single greatest individual that fought for the rebellion. He had been butchering aurors and destroying entire outposts, becoming the bogeyman of the Ministry.

Templar had been found. Harry geared up, preparing to destroy the last link to his past. He would not give Templar mercy. The other teenager wasn't close to him, and they barely knew each other, but he was the last to know Hadrian the Mercenary.

Harry gripped the portkey, holding on tightly as he went to face the last champion of the resistance.

Today, Templar would die.


	7. Chapter Seven: Resolution

A/N: The penultimate chapter. Has some pretty dark content towards the end, even more so than usual. Hope everybody enjoys. Make sure to review.

"Templar." He said coldly. The other teenager didn't turn around, merely looking out over the surrounding hills. Templar seemingly ignored the ten dead aurors that surrounded him, each killed more brutally than the last. Harry kept a tight grip on his wand.

"Hadrian." Templar replied tonelessly. "I had suspected that you were the one that killed Charlotte and William. It was surprising at first. We were told you were dead."

"Unfortunately for you, I'm not." Harry said, preparing to defend against whatever Templar attacked him with. Templar wasn't as powerful as he was, but Harry didn't know his spell set like he did the others. All he really knew was that Templar was fast, almost as fast as he was.

"You've come to kill me then." Templar stated, finally turning around and meeting Harry's eyes. Harry had never really looked at the cold teenager before, since Templar always had a hood on, and he was surprised to find that Templar looked quite similar to Harry, albeit with blonde hair and higher cheek bones. There were plenty of other differences as well, such as Templar's blank blue eyes and wider face. Still, the resemblance was startling.

"Yes." Harry replied, not letting his surprise at Templar's appearance into his voice. "Are you ready?"

"Of course." Templar said. He suddenly flicked his wand so fast that even Harry could barely catch the motion. Sickly yellow smoke poured out of it and into the auror corpses, animating the inert corpses. Harry grinned at the inferi that were now clumsily shambling towards him before blasting the corpses apart with a single wave of his wand.

A shield easily kept the resulting gore from getting onto Harry, although Templar simply leapt out of the way before silently sending lethal spells at Harry. There was a massive variety, and had Harry been average he would have been overwhelmed trying to utter the countercurses and block each of them.

He wasn't average, however. A jab of his wand forced his powerful shield outwards carrying Templar's spells with it. Templar flicked his wand and a wall of earth erupted from the ground, blocking the shield and spells.

Now that they had a basic idea of each other's skills and ability, the two master duelists circled around each other. Occasionally one of them would lash out at the other with a cutter or bludgeoner to test their opponent's defense, but the majority was spent waiting for an opening. Neither grew bored and attempted to launch a real attack, knowing that such an action would result in giving the other duelist control of the battle.

Harry realized that they couldn't stay like this forever and feigned a trip when Templar sent his next bludgeoner at him. He instantly righted himself and batted the bright purple spell away, and Templar actually had a look of shock on his face as Harry caught him in mid-attack.

He jabbed his wand towards Templar, whispering the incantation of fiendfyre. The steam would be an easily exploitable situation should his opponent use the _torrentus_ that Templar was renowned for to stop it, and if Templar apparated out of the way it would be simple enough to catch him with the inferno.

Templar went with the _torrentus._ Thousands of gallons of water began to erupt from the tip of his wand, and the teenager's face showed no visible strain as the powerful wave met the twisting and writhing form of the fiendfyre head on.

Soon he had been obscured from Harry's vision, but the life detection charm allowed Harry to track the fast wizard. Templar seemed to have given up on the spell once the fiendfyre had been extinguished and was trying to take advantage of the steam as well by circling around Harry.

Harry kept his shield strong as he slowly angled himself towards Templar's position before lashing out with _voragus_. Templar showed how fast he was by leaping away from the gaping chasm that had erupted beneath him and firing spells at Harry the entire time. Most were simple bludgeoners and cutters, but a few were flaying curses and skinners.

They were annoyances, easily blocked by his nigh impenetrable shield. He continued to track Templar, however. The other teenager was too fast for him to give an advantage, so he prepared another burst of fiendfyre. Perhaps Templar would slip up in his haste to avoid the devouring flames.

His wand shot a burst of ice up his arm as he released another inferno, this one as wide as he could possibly make it. Although the flames were slightly weaker, they were still enough to melt most substances and turn the earth into molten glass. The inferno raged towards Templar, who realized that destroying it again would be too draining.

Harry growled in annoyance as Templar apparated a few feet behind him. He swung the fiendfyre towards Templar, although it barely twisted in time to devour the quick flurry of spells that Templar sent at him. As soon as the fiendfyre neared him Templar apparated again.

He growled again at his mobile opponent before an idiotic and dangerous strategy popped into his head. Harry grinned and began to weaken the fiendfyre before apparating a few feet behind Templar, keeping the fiendfyre roaring the entire time.

The wizard screamed in pain as immense heat engulfed him, covering the uncovered portions of his body in light burns. He was released from the fiery prison a moment later and breathed in relief, although it turned to a grin of victory as the surprised Templar was suddenly engulfed in the fiendfyre.

Harry heard his screams of agony for a few moments before he moved to extinguish the fiendfyre. A slight glow in the midst of the inferno surprised him, however, and he kept it raging. Suddenly the glow grew extremely bright and thousands of gallons of water suddenly extinguished the fiendfyre.

He never had a chance of avoiding the massive wave of water. It slammed into him, soothing his burns with its cold temperature. Any relief he might have felt was replaced with agony as the full force of the wave swept him off of his feet, and he felt as though he had a broken arm.

Harry hissed in agony as the wave finally ran out of water, leaving his drenched form on the ground. He caused his heavy, waterlogged robes to detach from him with a wave of his wand and examined his arm momentarily. It was at an impossible angle, and even the slightest of motions caused unbearable agony.

The wizard put a numbing charm on it before searching for Templar. He found his adversary on the ground a hundred feet away, and Harry stumbled over. Harry saw that Templar was unconscious, presumably from the sheer amount of power it took to keep the fiendfyre from simply incinerating his body, and was completely defenseless.

He didn't hesitate for a moment. Templar had proved to be highly dangerous and he was weakened himself.

"Avada kedavra." Harry whispered, feeling regret for Templar's death even if it didn't carry the same weight as the deaths of William and Charlotte. Templar slackened and looked relaxed as death overtook him.

Harry took Templar's wand and transfigured his fallen foe into another iron coin, slipping it into his pocket before he went to retrieve his battle robes. When he had the expensive garment safely on he activated the portkey to the Ministry, taking him away from the hills of Scotland.

Xx

Harry was tired, even several hours after being easily fixed by one of the mediwitches. She didn't ask him how he had gotten the injury, thinking that he was one of the aurors or Unspeakables. Templar's coin rested heavy in his pocket, reminding him of his duty to give the young mercenary a burial.

He would do it tomorrow, Harry thought. Tonight he just didn't have the energy, and he wanted to give Templar as good a burial as the others had received. His would be the last tomb to mark that mountain.

The wizard collapsed onto his bed, falling asleep a few minutes later.

XxXx

He had just entombed Templar. The teenaged mercenary was oddly peaceful, and although he didn't feel for him as much he still paid a few minutes of respect to the fallen mercenary. Templar's tomb was next to Charlotte's and stood equal to all of the others.

Harry looked at the tombs of his respected foes and friends a little bit longer before finally apparating away. Malfoy had something important to tell him today, or so the message had claimed.

The Ministry was just as busy as ever. Minor workers lowered their heads as he passed, and even the Department Heads nodded in deference to him. Although he didn't have a set rank at the Ministry, the civility and respect the most powerful members of the Wizengamot showed him was more than enough to make everyone wish to be in his good graces.

He nodded back every now and then, although he largely ignored the workers as he walked to the war room. They were meaningless to him.

Lucius looked up and nodded at him. "I have wonderful news!" The man said with what Harry assumed was supposed to be a smile. "The French and Spanish have backed off after the deaths of their most feared fighters."

"Really?" Harry asked in surprise. He hadn't expected them to retract themselves from the conflict so soon. They would still be funding the rebels – he had no doubt about that – but they wouldn't be able to supply them quite as obviously.

"Yes." Lucius nodded, still aiming that disgusting smile at him. Harry fought down the urge to kill him. "We received the news this morning. They apologized for their previous actions and recalled their mercenaries. I'm sure a few were "forgotten", but the rebels are badly crippled now."

Harry nodded. "I suppose you want me to take a more active role in the war now. We have nothing more to worry about than former aurors and half-trained dissidents."

"You are correct in that assumption." The slimy man confirmed. "And you will be called in much more now that the three mercenaries have been killed. We have discovered the locations of several compounds that are too well-fortified for our men to assault without your aid. You will be given a day of rest in order to recuperate."

"Very well." Harry grinned, his mind ecstatic at the thought of the resulting bloodshed. Violence was quite good for working off the wild emotions from the recent deaths. "I'll be in my room when you require my services."

Lucius simply nodded and returned to the reports that had been gathering on his desk.

Harry kept his grin until he reached his room. A wave of his wand removed his slightly torn robes and clothing, allowing him to collapse tiredly onto the expensive bed. It seemed that he would have a lot to do now and he wanted to be ready for anything. At least these new missions would be easy.

XxXx

Two days later he found himself with thirty hit wizards. They were about to portkey into the area of the next rebel compound and were awaiting Harry's orders. He gave them all a feral smile as he began to address them in the staging room inside the Ministry. These were some of the most brutal and sadistic members of the hit wizards, and they were all underneath his control.

This was not a standard raid, where anyone who resisted was killed and those that surrendered were sent to Azkaban. His first true mission was an intimidation attempt. He would lead the attack on the compound and slaughter everyone there. It was a supply depot for the rebels, and its loss would send them reeling. The food and water lost wouldn't be a problem for them – it was simple to multiply food – but any other supplies like floo powder or potions would be a grave loss.

Of course, the deaths of everyone in the compound would likely be just as bad, if not worse. He let his grin drop as he reached the podium, well aware of the thirty pairs of cold eyes staring at him.

"Hello." He announced to the audience. "I will be leading this mission today. Your orders are simple: kill everyone you see and lock the area down. Ensure that no one escapes. The necessary wards are in place. Does anyone have a question?"

"I do." A particularly ugly wizard called. "What strategy are we gonna use?"

"Standard fare. Pairs with one person attacking and one person defending. Five pairs will surround the building and ensure no one tries to escape using a hidden entrance. Anyone else?"

There was silence. "Activate your portkeys, then."

Thirty smooth orbs began to emanate a soft light in each of the hit wizard's hands before the portkeys pulled them to the rebel compound. Harry activated his own portkey when he was sure everyone was gone, taking him to the area as well.

He appeared in a forest, where a building similar to the compound he had killed William and Charlotte at stood. Harry grimaced at the memory but took his place at the head of the squads. They quickly began to shift into position, five pairs of the hit wizards taking their positions around the compound. The rest formed up behind him, far enough apart to not be wiped out by a few well placed explosions.

Harry began to walk towards the plain wooden door, disillusioning himself as he did so. When he was close to it he blasted it down and jumped to the side. The hit wizards behind him weren't so fast and two were hit in the chest with a blasting curse.

The teenager allowed the other hit wizards to charge in first, allowing them to clear the entrance. He could hear the screams from the rebels as the sadistic wizards had their fun. Harry grimaced at the people employed by Lucius before walking in to see their handiwork.

As he had expected the room was a mess. Its stark white walls were marred by blood and gore that had been stuck to it, and ravaged corpses were strewn about the room. None had been killed cleanly by the killing curse. Instead the hit wizards had chosen to use more painful methods like cutting curses, bludgeoners to the head, and blasting curses.

Harry looked around in disgust before turning to the waiting hit wizards. Almost all were covered in blood, and most were wearing delighted smiles. He hid his annoyance and revulsion before addressing them.

"I will take the right side of the compound with two pairs of hit wizards. The rest of you are to cover the left side. Take no prisoners and kill everyone you see."

Hoots and roars of delight emerged from the horde of wizards. Harry looked on in disgust as the majority moved on to rampage through the building. He silently hoped that the rebels killed them all. Painfully.

Two pairs stayed behind, watching him anxiously. Harry motioned for them to follow him and he moved to the door that would lead them to the rest of the compound. It was incredibly heavy, but he forced it off its hinges with a single jab of his wand.

Harry put a detect life charm on his eyes as he walked through the door, now aware that ten wizards were waiting in ambush. He rolled his eyes as stunners and bludgeoners neared him and simply blocked most of them with a wave of his wand. The only one that got through was batted away by his right hand.

The hit wizards following him stayed behind him, aware that they would be killed in an instant otherwise. Harry jabbed his wand, conjuring a wall of fire into existence. Another jab sent it blasting down the hall, catching the rebels in the blaze. A few screams of agony reached his ears before the fire either killed them or forced them into unconsciousness.

Harry walked down the hall when they went silent. As he neared the small piles of charred bodies, he nodded at them. "Make sure they're all dead." He said to the hit wizards. Harry didn't want to be around the brutes anymore than he had to.

They eagerly nodded and began to cast a variety of curses upon the bodies, no doubt pleasing their disturbed little minds. Harry simply walked through the next door, not wanting to watch them any longer.

The next room had only a single wizard in it. He was a powerfully built black man wearing slightly faded auror robes. Harry's mind flashed back to the dossiers on important members of the rebels, as well as Rodolphus' lessons on dangerous aurors.

"Ah, hello. You are Kingsley Shacklebolt, I presume?" He said pleasantly. "Former auror, escaped the Ministry purge. Also a member of the Order of the Pheonix, or so our spies have told us."

"Who are you?" Kingsley asked carefully, keeping his wand leveled at Harry. Harry simply gave an easy grin and began to walk towards the man. "Don't come any closer!" Kingsley shouted.

"I'm no one of importance." Harry responded, seemingly ignoring Kingsley's command as he continued to move closer. "Just a man trying to survive."

Kingsley suddenly jabbed his wand, sending a lethal reducto at Harry's chest. Harry rolled his eyes and sidestepped so fast that the other man couldn't track him. When he was safe from the curse he finished approaching Kingsley and held the already tall man up by the throat. His silver hand tightened on Kingsley's throat, and the man wasn't even able to make a noise.

"That wasn't very nice." Harry chided, waving one of his silvery fingers reproachfully. "Why should you be afraid of a seventeen year old boy? A man like you shouldn't even pay attention to me. Oh, well." He said as Kingsley's eyes began to roll back. "I suppose that you have to be punished for trying to kill me."

Harry tightened his grip and twisted, snapping the man's neck. Kingsley was dropped to the ground, head twisted at an unnatural angle. He shrugged, disappointed at how easy the "fight" was and continued on his way. His enchanted eyes told him that there were three people hiding in the room to his left.

He casually walked over, wand tightly in his grip, and blasted the door down. As soon as he walked in several cutting curses aimed at his neck flashed towards him. Harry batted away the curses and summoned the wands from the inhabitants' hands.

Harry looked at them for a moment before snapping them. He turned his attention to the three women and examined them. None looked beyond their teenage years, and they had probably just gotten out of Hogwarts. Of course, they could always be mudbloods that had been forced out when Malfoy and his lot took power.

"Oh, hello there." He said pleasantly. The witches looked up at him in terror. Harry met one's eyes – she was a somewhat attractive witch with bushy hair and prominent front teeth – and tore into her mind. She – Harry learned that her name was Hermione Granger – screamed and fell to the ground as he ripped information from her undefended mind.

The other witches tried to take advantage of his distraction by jumping at him, but he simply waved his wand and sent them flying into the white walls. Harry paid them little mind, too annoyed by the lack of information the girl had. She wasn't a fighter, instead using her potion brewing services in exchange for safety.

Harry looked at the other girls as well, aware that they knew nothing. They were at best half-trained fighters, more suited for potion making and healing than actual combat. Both had simply fled from Hogwarts and the Ministry after some of the more brutal and restrictive laws were put in place.

"I'm afraid that I no longer need your services." He said to the dazed girls. One – Hannah Abbot, a pretty half-blood blonde girl – looked up at him in confusion. Hermione was still groaning in pain from his brutal mental assault, and the last – another blonde, pureblood witch named Lavender Brown – tried to attack him again.

He rolled his eyes and slammed her into the wall again. "Why did you even bother trying? You can't beat me. Even if all three of you had your wands I would have killed you all in a few seconds at the most."

"Go to hell." Lavender growled at him. The others were merely silent, both in too much pain to respond.

"I'll probably be there one day." He shrugged. "But I'm afraid you'll have to wait on me a bit. It's a shame you chose this particular compound, you know. Perhaps each of you would have survived the war."

Harry leveled his wand at Lavender and whispered the incantation to the killing curse. She gasped a moment before it landed and took the life from her. He didn't feel anything as he killed the other two, painlessly sending them to the afterlife.

He looked around the room for a bit longer before deciding there was nothing of value in it. Harry didn't bother looking at the dead girls before he left. They weren't anything special.

As he entered the previous room, he noticed that Kingsley looked as though someone had sent a bludgeoner into his chest. Harry grimaced at the hit wizards' disrespect, but didn't pay much attention. He had expected such brutality from them. As an afterthought, he turned back to the small room he had just vacated and waved his wand. The door rose back up from its previous location on the ground and reattached itself to the hinges.

Harry normally wouldn't bother, but he wasn't sure what the hit wizards would do if they found the dead girls. They were the worst monsters the Ministry had to offer, after all, and he wouldn't put it past one of the sicker ones to debase the dead.

When he was satisfied that it was hidden he continued on his way, following the screams as he walked through several long halls. The doors were each ajar, showing that the hit wizards had already investigated them. There were no life signs.

Finally, the screams were clearly close. He walked into the room and found that it was a bedroom. It was mostly bare aside from a few sturdy pieces of furniture. The small bed had a teenaged girl on it, and one pair of his hit wizards were using the torture curse on her. Harry looked on in disgust, pausing a moment to look at the girl. He felt an unusual feeling of pity towards her and an uncommon urge to protect.

Harry saw that the hit wizards hadn't even noticed him come in, too amused and enthralled by torturing the girl. He didn't let them know of his presence, instead examining the girl. She was twitching and bucking as the unrelenting agony continued to eat at her nerves, so he had a hard time seeing her face.

But what he did see reminded him strongly of a young veela girl with innocent blue eyes and silvery blonde hair. This girl had to be at least four years older than Gabrielle would be, but she held such a strong resemblance that he felt a strong burst of rage.

Harry's vision turned red as uncharacteristic rage flooded through his body, and he felt the icy power of his wand flood through his hand as he used an overpowered blasting curse on the two hit wizards. The curse completely destroyed their torsos, leaving nothing but a pair of legs and a large amount of meat and gore splattered across the wall.

With the transgressors dead, he slowly calmed down. The rage left his body, and he calmly walked over to the girl and examined her. She was still feeling the aftereffects of the cruciatus, and looked to be nearly unconscious. The girl hadn't been under it nearly long enough to be permanently damaged, although she would likely be out of commission for a few weeks.

She looked exactly like an older version of Gabrielle would look like, should his memories be accurate. Harry was slightly confused by that fact, as Gabrielle could only possibly be about eleven at the oldest. Of course, veela and part-veela did mature both physically and mentally rather quickly once they hit puberty. But even with her magic and mind fully developed he couldn't see Apolline Delacour allowing her eleven year old daughter into a warzone.

Harry shrugged and shook the girl's shoulder. If he wanted to help her he would need to do it fast. He waved his wand over her a few times, numbing the pain and returning her to consciousness. Harry also made sure to remove the actual memory of the torture, although she would know that it had occurred.

"What's your name?" He asked carefully. She looked at him in fear for a moment before answering.

"Gabrielle." She muttered, looking away from him. Harry couldn't help the cold feeling that raced down his spine, although he felt a twinge of annoyance at the effect the aura had upon him. Still, he likely would have helped her even if she didn't possess that damnable aura. The Delacours were the last real connection to his past, and he hadn't saved Gabrielle's life twice just to end it himself.

"Do you remember me?" He asked, showing her his face. She looked up at him in confusion, although her face lit up when she recognized him.

"Hadrian!" She exclaimed before beginning to chatter away in French. "What are you doing here? Mama thought that you were dead!"

"That's not important." He responded back, naturally switching to the other language. "What is important is that you get out of here. But what are you doing here? You can't possibly be old enough to fight in the war."

Harry searched for an item to make a portkey out of as she answered. He found a small shoe and began to enchant it so that it would send her back to the French Ministry. The teenager listened to her as she spoke.

"I'm thirteen." She said. "And I'm not fighting! Mama just wanted me to be hidden with Fleur since someone tried to blow up our house. She was finding us somewhere safe."

"Fine. But why did she send you to a warzone? This is probably one of the worst countries in the world to be in right now." Harry replied as he enchanted the portkey. It was almost complete.

"Fleur said that this had some sort of really strong charm on it. Since mama thought someone in our government tried to kill us she wanted me out of the country. I was supposed to go back to Beauxbatons in just a week."

Harry grimaced at the ill timing of this attack and passed her the portkey. She took the shoe in confusion, although she recognized what it was when a soft glow began to emanate from it. In the few seconds he had before she would be taken back to France, he gave her a warning.

"Don't come back to Britain." He said frantically. "Stay in France. It's too dangerous and I won't be able to protect you every time."

She nodded just before the portkey took her to the Ministry. Harry thought that she looked at him sadly before leaving. He felt the allure vanish from his mind, the creeping tendrils of magic suddenly gone, but he didn't feel any regret for his actions.

Harry had limits, even if Bellatrix and Rodolphus had destroyed most of them. He wouldn't kill a thirteen year old girl, nor would he allow others to do so. Especially not when she was one of his last links to his former life.

He wasn't sure why, but something about this situation left a bad taste in his mouth. Harry shrugged and left the room. The hit wizards would likely be done by now, and he would need to see their progress.

XxXxXx

Kingsley Shacklebolt. Alastor Moody. Aberforth Dumbledore. Bill Weasley.

Those were just a few of the leaders of the rebellion that Harry had killed personally over the last year. All were capable leaders in their own right, and all had been part of Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix. They were some of the few leaders that were organized to work together, forming their own individual groups into a formidable force capable of hindering the Ministry's relentless attacks.

Of course, the moment they were dead their underlings began squabbling amongst themselves for power, forcing the rebellion into decline. Still, there were persistent groups that sprang up every week and hid once they heard that Harry – or the Monster, as he was known to those few that had survived his attacks – was coming for them.

Now, although the rebellion was still going strong it was steadily weakening. Harry doubted it would survive the next two years. It had been a shame that there had been no worthy opponents since he had defeated Templar.

Kingsley had died before the fight even had a chance to begin. Moody had tried, but Harry wasn't an inexperienced child with nothing but power to back him up anymore. It had been a killing curse that ended Moody's life. Weasley had died even easier, lacking the experience the others had. Of course, the deaths of everyone in his compound might have distracted him.

The only one with even a chance of standing up to Harry was Aberforth, strangely enough. Harry hadn't even known that Dumbledore had a brother until he fought him. Power must have been in their blood. Aberforth was no Albus, but he was quite powerful in his own right. Had he been younger and faster he would have posed a small threat.

All in all he had enjoyed the past year. He loved the war. Harry loved being able to use his considerable might to lay waste to those weaker than him, loved being able to wash away the empty feeling that had pervaded his body sense William's death with an unending flood of violence and blood. This was what he had been born for.

Harry paid little attention to the Lestranges, caring little for the adoring husks they had become. They were kept alive by the orphaned girl that he had paid to be their caretaker a year after he had saved them from Azkaban, but he hadn't even entered the home in a year and a half.

He gripped his delicate glass of wine tightly when he thought of the Lestranges, shattering it. Harry gave his powerful hand an annoyed glance before rolling his eyes and waving his wand to clean up the mess. His wand called for him to kill again, and he wanted nothing more than to appease that call.

It had been a week since he was in a fight, and he hadn't realized how the violence had kept him relatively calm and cold. He didn't have time to ponder the strange, foreign emotions that he had been feeling since he began to fight this war, too awash in the blood of his enemies and the thrill of combat to worry about them. The odd little pangs weren't strong, but they were quite annoying.

Harry sighed and repaired the glass before summoning more alcohol. Just as he began to pour it, a head of green flame appeared in the fire place. He gripped his wand tightly and looked at the familiar face of Zabini, awaiting whatever orders she had for him.

The woman had become his primary contact for his missions over the year. Lucius was too busy trying to implement the strategies that Harry had drawn up or worrying over logistics to bother, and the other conspirators were too fearful of Harry or too involved in their petty power struggles to survive. Zabini, on the other hand, was almost likable to Harry. She wasn't quite as annoying as the others and was satisfied with her lofty position.

"What is it?" He growled, reclining back into his chair. Just because she was halfway decent didn't mean he was going to be nice to her.

"There's a battle in Diagon Alley." She said frantically, not bothering to send a venomous statement back at him. "Twenty rebels. They killed most of the hit wizards in the Alley in an ambush and are looting the stores for supplies."

Harry looked at her with interest, his eyes lighting up at the mention of the rebels. It looked like he would be able to appease his desire for battle after al. "I'll be there in a minute."

Zabini nodded and ducked out of his fireplace, freeing it for Harry's use. Harry didn't bother retrieving his combat robes – they would take too long to put on, plus the rebels were likely to simply flee if they recognized his heavy grey robes – and simply pulled on a shirt before using the floo to appear in Madame Malkin's.

All stores were required to be connected to the Ministry with the floo network due to a set of laws passed by the Wizengamot. Ostensibly it was supposed to allow aurors and hit wizards to react to crimes quicker, but in reality it was to tighten the Ministry's control over the Alley. Of course, this time it actually served its supposed purpose.

Madame Malkin stared at him in fear as he burst out of the floo with a smirk on his face, and scrambled out of his way as he passed her. Harry had his wand out and was ready for combat the moment he enter the Alley. He had seen flashes of light and heard screams but he hadn't realized the full scale of the battle.

Only a few hit wizards and aurors were still fighting, the majority either badly injured or killed. Most of the stores were full of noncombatants looting them for the rebels, something that Harry intended to put a stop to. He hadn't taken most of the known supply depots just to let them steal more.

Harry had to bat away a bludgeoner, glaring at the rebel that had dared to attack him. The rebel – a small, old man with a wispy puff of hair on his balding head – seemed to realize who he was and tried to apparate away.

Harry grinned as the apparition wards caught the old man, slamming him into the ground with incredible force. He didn't waste a killing curse on the man, instead simply sending an overpowered bludgeoner into the back of his head. The eighteen year old flicked his wand in order to shield himself from the explosion of gore.

He walked towards the main group of rebels. They were massed into a large group, constantly firing a variety of lethal spells in order to keep the surviving Ministry forces pinned down. Harry intended to change that.

A tap of his wand to his head disillusioned him, and he didn't bother silencing his feet as he stalked towards the rebels. The screams and general volume of the battle would prevent them from hearing him. Harry stalked towards them, circling around their lone sentry before standing into their midst.

The teenager thought he recognized the leader. She stood in the back, shouting orders and letting powerful blasting curses loose from her wand. Harry grinned as he saw her vibrant pink hair. Apparently Nymphadora Tonks wasn't afraid of being recognized.

Still, pink hair was quite possibly the most conspicuous color one could have on the battlefield. The day was dull and gray, and her vibrant hair stood out like a sore thumb. Harry decided to kill her last. He was sure that he could think up of an amusing one-liner by then.

He leveled his wand at her back and jabbed it towards her, sending an overpowered stunner into her. Harry grimaced at using such a weak spell, but didn't have time to really focus on his disgust as the rebels became aware of his presence.

"Shit!" The one nearest to him cried out. "He's here!"

Harry smiled and rewarded such an astute observation by flicking his wand towards the wizard. Screams of terror erupted from the rebels as his spine was torn from his neck. He waved his wand, smirking at the pathetic attempts of the rebels to detect him, and had the length of bloody bone and nerves levitate off of the cobblestone and wrap around a short witch's neck.

He sprang into action as the others began to try and help their comrade. It was a shame that they lacked any form of discipline. Had they simply ignored the witch and instead focused on finding him they would have had some semblance of victory.

The first one to die was a middle aged man that Harry didn't recognize. Harry had disarmed him and summoned the wand into the man's chest. None of these rebels were capable of posing a threat to him, so Harry had decided to have fun. There were no magical that could hope to stand against him. The last of the magical titans – William and the others – had already been killed. Harry was unmatched by any wizards alive.

More screams echoed throughout the alley as Harry continued his bloody work, moving so fast that the rebels were unable to track him and flinging skinning and blood boiling curses in return. He didn't even have to try. Magic had enhanced his body to superhuman levels over the past few years, and he was actually rather bored as he weaved around the battlefield. Harry could easily track the jets of bright light the rebels were firing and simply batted them away or dodged.

Only a single spell could have been dangerous to him. One of the witches – likely one intelligent enough to realize the desperate situation she was in, a rarity in itself – had randomly shouted out the words to the killing curse, sending the streak of sickly green light flashing towards his back. It was only due to sheer luck that he avoided the deadly curse, as he had been turning when it drew near.

Once he knew of it, he easily ducked under it and sent a flaying curse at the woman. Her screams were like music to his ears as the vengeful wizard continued to tear the rebels apart. Soon enough the only living member of the rebels was Nymphadora.

Harry calmed down as he looked at the blood stained street, realizing that no one else could pose a threat to him. He carefully stepped around the mutilated bodies of his foes and walked over to the unconscious form of the metamorphmagus.

He carefully picked her up and apparated, not bothering to be careful with her. She would likely be bruised when she woke up, but it wasn't as though she would be alive long enough to worry about the superficial injuries.

The wizard landed in the middle of a familiar forest. He levitated the unconscious woman into the crumbling cabin, looking around Fenrir Greyback's former home in curiosity. Harry hadn't been here since Rodolphus had been planning the raid on Azkaban, and he wasn't keen on staying very long. There were bad memories in this place.

His mind flashed back to the first time he had come here, back when he had been a trusting, naïve child that thought the world of the Lestranges. Harry grimaced as he remembered his own weakness in the face of the first true danger he had ever encountered: the attack by Fenrir. The wizard curled his silver hands into a tight grip as he grimaced at the memory, but quickly ignored it.

Those times were long gone. He wasn't that little child that had just begun his explorations into the power that pervaded his every cell, nor the vengeful teenager seeking to reclaim his mother. No, he was grown now. He had become wiser and more powerful than anyone could have possibly imagined over the years. Now he was at the top.

A weak groan tore him from his thoughts. Harry looked at the witch in annoyance and woke her up. She opened her eyes and looked around with bleary eyes before the memories returned to her. Nymphadora scrambled away from him, grabbing her wand and began the incantation for the killing curse.

Harry rolled his eyes and disarmed her with a flick of his wand. He caught the wand in his offhand and snapped it with a single, smooth motion. Nymphadora was staring at him with terror in his eyes, although the steel that proved she was an auror remained.

"What are you going to do to me?" She asked tersely. Her eyes – a bright, icy blue, he idly noticed – stared at him, watching his every movement. Harry grinned down at her and took a seat on one of the flimsy looking chairs. A flick of his wrist lit the rusting lanterns that lined the walls.

"Nothing." He replied easily, clasping his hands together. Nymphadora's eyes wer drawn to the silvery material before she continued glaring at him. "Now, do you know who I am?"

"You're the Monster." She spat, her hair and eyes briefly changing to bright crimson.

"Yes." He admitted. "I suppose that my reputation precedes me. But look closer," he said, moving his body into the light, "do you recognize me?"

Nymphadora warily glanced at his face. She took a moment to recognize him, an event that was noticeable by the slow morphing of her expression from confusion to horror. Harry cockily grinned at her, reclining back into the hard wooden chair as her hair briefly changed to stark white.

"Lestrange!" She gasped, suddenly looking much more afraid then before. Harry supposed that she was afraid that he would torture her thanks to the connection to Bellatrix, or some other such nonsense.

"Don't worry." He said lazily. "I'm not going to cause you harm. I'm not as hung up on blood purity as my mother."

Nymphadora visibly relaxed, and the steel returned to her eyes. "So why am I here? If you aren't going to hurt me what was the point. I'm sure you don't want to reunite with the family."

"Oh, did I say I wasn't going to harm you?" Harry exclaimed sarcastically. "Well that was a lie. I'm still going to kill you, but I won't draw it out."

The woman reacted the second she heard that Harry would kill her. Harry calmly waited in his seat as she leapt at him with her fists raised. He hadn't expected that she would accept her death sitting down, and had been more than prepared for this eventuality.

As she neared him, he prepared his offhand. She would likely be moving too fast for most people to defend against, but to Harry she was moving quite slowly. He calmly moved into motion as she grew close enough. In a single motion he stood up and caught her tightly by the throat before slamming her into the hard wooden floor.

"It's a shame." Harry said as Nymphadora found herself on the ground. "I didn't want to have to hurt you, but you've forced my hand."

"Go to hell!" Nymphadora shouted as she struggled to escape his iron grip. He smiled and tightened it, forcing the metamorphmagus to use her special talents to escape. Harry simply gripped tighter as she shrunk her neck.

"You know," he said conversationally, ignoring the struggling woman and her insult, "you might have been the best chance anyone had to kill me. You're able to enhance your body with magic and can take the form of anyone. It would have been possible for you to attack me and catch me by surprise. Think on that as you die."

Nymphadora glared at him, continuing to manipulate her body to escape death. Harry smiled back before suddenly standing up, picking her up with him. When she continued to struggle, he threw her to the ground and withdrew his wand. He pointed the length of ancient wood at her and smiled one last time.

"Tell Alastor I said hello. Avada kedavra."

Harry felt nothing as Nymphadora's life was torn out of her by the darkest of dark curses. She meant nothing to him, and his only regret was that he hadn't been able to think of a one-liner before she died.

He searched the room for a potential portkey and finally found an old mug. Harry tapped it with his wand, enchanting it with the simple word. When it was prepared he threw it onto Nymphadora's body. The rebels would give her a burial.

When there was nothing left to occupy him he apparated away, leaving the old cabin behind. He didn't want to return there again.

XxXxXx

"Is everything ready?" Harry asked Zabini. She nodded to him and handed him a few sheets of paper. The wizard looked over them for a moment, smiling as he realized everything had gone to plan.

"It is. The operation is already underway and your part will be beginning shortly." She said. Harry could see that she was hiding a wide grin. He supposed he could understand her excitement. It wasn't everyday that one eliminated the greatest of their rivals, after all.

"Very well." He replied. "Make sure everyone keeps to the plan. This has to go off perfectly. I'll meet up with you later."

Harry left the room, preparing to finish his latest plot. It had only been a few days since the raid on Diagon Alley, and he had been thinking quite a bit. His thoughts had given birth to quite a few problems that he needed to deal with.

He smoothed the expression out of his face as he strode through the dim halls of the Ministry, ignoring the workers as he made his way to the war room.

XxXxXxXx

"Hello, Lucius." Harry said as he stepped into the war room. Lucius was hunched over his desk, resolutely studying the reports from the Diagon Alley raid. Most of the items had been recovered and restored to the shop owners, but Harry had little doubt that the aurors had decided to keep some of the items as "evidence".

Lucius didn't respond to him, but nodded back. He continued studying the report and writing small corrections until Harry slid into the seat from across his desk.

"You know, I've had some thoughts recently." He said. Lucius looked up at him in confusion. It wasn't often that Harry spoke of his thoughts, and Lucius wasn't sure where he was going with this.

"Such as?" The older man asked cautiously. Harry could see his arm grow rigid, and assumed that he had a tight grip on his wand.

"You see, Lucius, I'm unhappy with some of the practices you and your little minions have been implementing."

"Such as?" Lucius repeated. Harry knew that the man was ready for action, despite the fact that he posed no threat at all to Harry.

"Theft from your own citizens, murder, rape and so many other crimes that it would take hours to repeat the full extent of your crimes."

"What proof do you have?" Lucius hissed. Harry raised an eyebrow. The man was clearly stalling for time.

"Proof?" He asked incredulously, playing along with Lucius' little game. "I've been on the raids. You cut the leash on the most rabid of your aurors and hit wizards. They have no limits and do anything that enters their mind."

Harry didn't know why Lucius bothered to deny it. Even if he was simply stalling for time it wouldn't change the newest of Harry's schemes at all. Little did Lucius know that his reign was about to end, even if the man had called his aurors. Especially if he had called his aurors, in fact.

"But I honestly don't care about all that." Harry admitted, distracting Lucius. "Your lackeys are disgusting, I'll admit, but I don't have much of a moral code. I would have dealt with them eventually, but this is a completely different matter altogether."

"What do you –" Lucius said before being cut off by Harry.

"Imperio." He whispered, pointing his wand at Lucius' head. The man had no time to react as the spell overwhelmed his mind. Lucius' hard face relaxed for a moment and Harry took that moment to force his will upon the slimy man.

_Do not resist what is coming. Forget you were imperiused. Admit your involvement with Voldemort should you be asked. Believe your charges._

Lucius returned to normal a few moments later, and looked at Harry hatefully. The man didn't realize that Harry had cast anything and prepared to attack. His movements were cut off as several crimson robed aurors burst into the room with their wands raised.

"Lucius Malfoy!" The lead auror shouted. "You are under arrest for conspiracy and murder! Drop your wand and do not resist us. Lethal force has been authorized against you."

Had Harry not imperiused the man Lucius would have certainly resisted. He wouldn't allow Lucius to escape the upcoming punishment so easily, however. Lucius was forced to drop the wand by the imperius and didn't resist as the aurors roughly tied his wrists together with a small chain.

The aurors nodded in deference to Harry as they led Malfoy out of the room. None of them saw the pleased smirk on Harry's face.

XX

"You did well." Harry commented to Zabini as they watched Lucius' trial. They stood high above the Wizengamot, cloaked in shadows. The balcony had been put in several centuries ago for aurors to watch for suspicious activity, but it had been long forgotten.

"Thank you." Zabini replied, never allowing her gaze to stray from Lucius. "All the trouble was more than worth it, although I must admit that these events are much easier to orchestrate now that the Ministry has been purged."

"Agreed." Harry nodded, silently reveling in the humiliation that the bastard was going through. "This would have taken at least three months a mere three years ago. It looks like they're about to give him veritaserum."

The two stopped speaking as they saw an auror pour the clear potion down Lucius' throat. Lucius ceased his light struggles against the chains that bound him to the chair and went slack as the potion worked its magic.

Harry could see his mouth move, but knew that it was simply the result of them asking the basic questions to ensure the veritaserum's effectiveness. They would have a few moments before the real questions were asked.

"Lucius Malfoy!" The interrogator boomed, her voice echoing throughout the chamber. "Did you plan the conspiracy to assassinate the entirety of the Wizengamot?"

Harry smiled widely as the Wizengamot glanced around each other, each nervous as they looked at the many empty seats that had been filled the day before.

"Yes." Lucius said blankly.

Both Harry and Zabini listened in the amusement at the uproar his answer had caused. The members of the Wizengamot instantly broke into a commotion, screaming in rage and demanding the death of their former leader.

"Order!" Parkinson – who acted as the judge in this trial – boomed. His magically enhanced voice echoed throughout the chamber, intimidating the remnants of the Wizengamot. When silence had been restored, the interrogator continued.

"Who aided you in this conspiracy?" The man asked. Everyone listened intently, eager to hear the names of their would-be killers.

"Jonathan Jackleaf. Artemis Wood –"

Harry tuned the rest of the names out, knowing them before Lucius could say it. He had placed their identities into the man's mind, after all. It was such a shame that all had been killed in the attempted coup earlier that day.

Soon enough the list of names ran dry and the interrogator moved on.

"How did you plan the assault? Why did it fail?"

Lucius appeared to struggle against the potion before it dominated his mind again. "I planned it with my associates. We paid off the necessary aurors in order to kill the Wizengamot. Every member was there, and the plan should have succeeded. It failed because one of the aurors discovered their conscience."

The Wizengamot began to create an uproar, screaming obscenities and threats at Lucius. Harry looked down at the governmental body in disgust, incapable of understanding how such petty individuals had managed to maintain their iron grip over Britain this entire time. They were little more than squabbling children.

Parkinson quickly reaffirmed order and asked the question everyone had been waiting for.

"Why did you do this?"

"For power." Lucius stated simply, losing the monotone the veritaserum enforced.

There was a brief moment of silence before pandemonium erupted. Harry nodded to Zabini and they had smirks on their faces as they left the Wizengamot chamber. They were both satisfied for different reasons.

Harry had done more than just kill the man that had ruined his life with Bellatrix and Rodolphus. He had humiliated and changed the Malfoy name from the greatest in Britain to a name that would be scorned for eternity. The wizard doubted that little Draco and Narcissa would last a week before assassins sent by vengeful family members killed them.

Zabini, however, was overjoyed by the fact that her main rival had been eliminated. She would be the only great player now that Lucius was gone, as Parkinson was completely inept when it came to the game of politics.

They each wandered off to their own homes. Harry sat down and drank a glass of wine, silently commemorating the memories of Bellatrix and Rodolphus. His mind flashed back to the years he spent blissfully unaware of his own potential and the deceit and manipulations of the Lestranges. Those were good times, even if they weren't genuine.

Harry received a message deep into the night that informed him of the trial's outcome. Lucius was found guilty and would be sent to a lifetime in Azkaban, as the Kiss had been judged too merciful for him. He suspected they simply wanted to have Lucius suffer as much as possible before he was given the Kiss.

Of course, he had arranged things so that he would finally get his revenge on Lucius. The boat trip to Azkaban was more than enough time to commit a simple murder, although it would be a shame that the hit wizards guarding the man would be killed.

He smiled at the news and finally went to bed. The boat left at eleven o'clock the next day, and he wanted to be at top condition.

Xx

The waves crashed against the shore as Lucius Malfoy was led to the boat that would take him to Azkaban. Thirty hit wizards and five highly trained aurors guarded him, each aware that their failure on this mission would result in terrible fates for themselves.

Harry watched from a distance. He was under a disillusionment charm so powerful that he was invisible. As Malfoy was roughly forced into the boat, followed by two aurors and the sailor that would take them to Azkaban, he began to move.

He didn't want to fight the guards. They couldn't hope to beat him, not when they were so tightly bunched together that a few powerful spells would take them out, but it would be a waste. The Ministry needed those forces for the war, and he didn't want to give the rebels an advantage. This civil war was fun, and he didn't want it to end so soon.

The teenager silently stalked towards the boat, weaving through the hit wizards that were carefully scanning the area, and leapt into the boat. His silenced feet made no noise as he landed in the midst of the other inhabitants.

A few moments later they were off. The sailor smoothly navigated the ship through the churning water, and Harry gripped his wand tightly as they neared a safe area where he could kill them all. He waited until the shoreline had nearly vanished and planned out a method of attack.

The first auror to die would be the one sitting immediately in front of him. He would simply punch the man in the neck and turn around in order to kill the second auror with the killing curse. Harry didn't even bother with the sailor, since the old man would be unable to harm him.

When he was confident in the plan, he acted it out. His fist slammed into the auror's neck and forced the man's trachea to collapse. The other auror tried to attack him, but he quickly turned around and killed the man with the killing curse. Harry saw the old man trying to raise his wand, but a quick blasting curse to the face cured him of that problem.

Harry turned to the bound and gagged Lucius. The slimy man looked at him with terror, something that caused Harry to grin. He was going to savor this moment.

Instead of immediately killing Lucius he sat down on the small bench, throwing the dead auror into the ocean in order to make room.

"Hello, Lucius." Harry said conversationally. He tore the gag out of Lucius' mouth, although he didn't remove the chain around his wrists. "Surprised to see me?"

"Not particularly." Lucius hissed back, face contorting in rage. "Were you not satisfied with ruining my name and my life?"

"Not particularly." Harry mimicked.

"Enough!" Lucius shouted. "Before you kill me tell me why you did this? What have I ever done to you to warrant such treatment?"

"Hmm. What have you done to me?" Harry asked sarcastically, tapping his chin with his finger. His eyes glinted dangerously as he looked at Lucius. "You tore my family apart. You ruined my existence. You betrayed me."

Malfoy just looked confused.

"Look at my face!" Harry snarled, all pretense at politeness gone. Lucius did so, and his face grew even paler as realization of Harry's identity dawned on him.

"Lestrange." He whispered. "But you can't be more than eighteen! How are you so powerful? How did you deceive me?"

"It was simple." Harry laughed, smoothing the hatred and bitterness out of his face. "You were distracted by the power you being offered. I doubt you even looked at me as you led us to the aurors."

"I wanted to keep my family safe!"

"And you did so by offering us up as your sacrificial lamb." Harry retorted. "I suppose that I've done worse things. I've committed acts of brutality that not even the worst of the death eaters could match. But you see, your mistake was that you did it to me."

"What are you going to do?" Lucius scoffed. "Kill me? That would be a mercy."

"Oh no." Harry grinned. "The simple fact that you have been ruined is almost enough for me. But the prospect of your death is too enticing to pass up. Besides, I fully expect that you will be regretting your words by the time I'm done with you."

"Do your worst." Lucius said resolutely, wiping away any trace of fear. Harry simply grinned and leveled his wand at the betrayer. His hand shook slightly in excitement as he finally had the opportunity to take his vengeance upon Lucius.

" _Flalus_!" He hissed, pouring all of the considerable hatred he possessed for the pathetic man before him into the brutal spell. It felt so _good_ to release the emotions that had been building up inside of him. The feeling was nowhere near as sweet as the pale bastard's screams of terror and agony as his skin was ripped from his body.

Harry poured more power into the spell, eager to see Lucius suffer for his offenses. He watched in sick glee, silently exulting in the power he held over Lucius as the man twisted and flailed in agony. The long swathes of skin the flailing curse was tearing off simply disintegrated as they were pulled away, ridding any chance for Lucius to recover from the grievous wounds Harry was inflicting upon him.

After several minutes of nearly unbearable agony Harry grew bored. He lit the small boat on fire before he left, and the last thing he saw before he apparated away was the rapidly growing inferno nearing Lucius' mutilated form.

He appeared in the war room. Zabini was sitting regally in the chair formerly used by Malfoy, and she was flipping through reports. Most were likely on the coup Malfoy had allegedly attempted. It was such a shame that his coup had killed off most of the Wizengamot.

Harry's mind flashed back to the few days of planning that had been necessary to frame Malfoy. With the Ministry in such a corrupt state it was child's play to bribe the correct officials and aurors, and if that failed the imperius was just as efficient. The plot was somewhat similar to the last, although instead of Harry destroying the Wizengamot they ordered a small group of bribed aurors to simply walk in and begin killing every unarmed Wizengamot member they could.

He had planned upon the new Wizengamot's paranoia keeping some of the members armed. Although nearly three quarters of the already diminished Wizengamot were killed by the aurors the members that had kept their wands managed to kill the ten aurors.

It was a simple thing to get them to wear small arm bands with the Malfoy coat of arms on them. A note planted in the leader's robe giving the details of the mission and the amount of gold to be paid to them was all the evidence the angry Wizengamot needed to tear Lucius from his lofty position.

Harry was rather embarrassed the Wizengamot had fallen for such a simple ploy. Perhaps his observations and judgments that they were like petty children wasn't such a far cry from the truth.

Nevertheless, it had succeeded. Malfoy had suffered for his betrayal and Zabini had gained power. Of course, that last bit was yet another part of his plan. Although Zabini had been instrumental in some of his successes, in particular the two coups, she was a wild card. She was likable, yes, but possessed cunning far beyond any others that he knew. That quality was made all the more dangerous by the considerable amount of influence and resources she had amassed.

In other words, Zabini was the last threat. The rest of the conspirators had been killed through various means – assassinations and infighting being the most common – and only a few had any knowledge of him, let alone any specific details. She was his only opponent; the only stepping stone to total security and domination over Britain.

And he had been raised to destroy his opponents before they could truly become a threat. Those lessons were burned into his mind.

"Hello." He said easily, getting the beautiful woman's attention. She glanced up at him.

"What brings you here?" Zabini asked curiously, aware that Harry rarely graced the war room anymore. He preferred rampaging through the rebel forces since they were scattered and vulnerable.

"My last loose end, of course." Harry said with a cold smile. He didn't bother with his normal theatrics that tended to come out when he had cornered his prey. Zabini was too cunning and dangerous for them.

Before Zabini could blink he had raised his wand and pointed it at her forehead.

"Imperio!" He muttered, smiling as Zabini slackened. The magic easily overwhelmed her occlumency shields and made her susceptible to his will. Harry quickly took advantage, forcing his thoughts and iron will into her mind.

_Obey. Submit. _

He didn't allow her free will. It was slightly draining on him, but he barely noticed it. The power her subservience offered him was worth far more than the meager drain upon his vast supply of power. With a single spell and less than a hundred deaths he had made himself the master of Britain. The Ministry was his to command, its resources were his. He was invincible now.

As Zabini looked up at him with adoring eyes, Harry smiled at the progress that was to come.

This was his world now.


	8. Chapter Eight:Pacification

A/N: It turns out that this will, in fact, not be the last chapter of this story. I have one last chapter in me before this is ended. Hope you all enjoy this, and read and review. If you have questions about something just PM me and I'll answer. It's not as if there's much more to spoil.

Four years. It had been four years since he had killed Malfoy, imperiused Zabini and taken the reigns of the British Ministry.

Five years since he had killed the closest thing to a father he had ever had and severed the ties with his mercenary past.

Seven years since he had overthrown Dumbledore's Ministry and installed the conspirators as the undisputed lords of Britain.

Eight years since he had been separated from the Lestranges and thrown to the mercenaries after learning the truth behind Bellatrix's warped personality.

Nine years since he had met William and became the unstoppable force he was today.

Fourteen years since he had been taken from the orphanage as a scared child that had nearly killed a child over a simple snake. Fourteen years since he had killed his first man.

Harry grimaced as the memories of his weakness swam throughout his mind. He opted to focus on a happier time, such as the last four years.

Under his hidden rule Britain had slowly healed, leaving badly healed scars in its wake, but at least it had healed. He was given unlimited power and resources in his missions, allowing him to butcher his way through the rebels until only isolated pockets remained. It was then that he turned his attention towards domestic matters.

He didn't interfere with the policies Zabini implemented, knowing that he lacked both the experience and understanding of politics to get the job done like Zabini could. Besides, he didn't want anything to do with such affairs. Harry wanted the nigh unlimited resources and military power. Anything else was irrelevant.

Of course, he wouldn't allow the rebellions to simply die. He enjoyed these battles and conflicts. They were interesting and got his blood boiling like nothing else. And it was the ongoing rebellions that led to him being present at the trial and execution of one of the rebellions' most powerful fighters and supporters.

"Fleur Delacour!" A reedy, balding wizard called out pompously. "You have been convicted of espionage, interference with British affairs, murder of law enforcement officials, theft from the Ministry of Magic, and the assassination of several high-ranking Ministry officials. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Harry stood in the shadows, watching the proceedings with a strange lump in his throat. He hadn't felt it since the deaths of William and Charlotte and he dearly wished for it to go away. It wasn't as if he knew or cared about Fleur. If only she didn't look so much like Gabrielle…

He grimaced as he thought of the young veela. If the reports were correct she was beginning to cause trouble for his Ministry as a valued member of the resistance. Harry dearly hoped that they were mistaken. To kill Gabrielle would be difficult. Although she hadn't been present in his life very often, she represented everything he had lost over the years. It was rather sad that she was the person closest to him now.

The powerful wizard pushed his thoughts to the side, and focused on the trial. Fleur had begun to speak, and he was slightly interested in what she had to say. Likely some drivel about the revolution or some other rot.

"I have little to say." The beautiful woman announced in a clear, musical voice. Her English was quite good, carrying only the slightest trace of an accent. Harry saw that many of the male members of the Wizengamot were quite attentive to her. "But what I do is important. I am proud of the deeds I have committed in the name of freedom. You dare to call them the acts of a terrorist, but one cannot terrorize a government that ruthlessly sacrifices its own people and murders its most defenseless citizens. You cannot quell the Phoenix that will soon arise from the ashes of the previous rebellion. You cannot –"

All of a sudden her speech was interrupted by a massive explosion. Harry didn't even flinch, instead opting to conjure a powerful shield with a flick of his wrist. Such an act would have been impossible for him a mere year ago, but his powers and skills had continued to grow dramatically over the years.

Rubble and dust crashed into his transparent shield, but the damage to the Wizengamot and prosecutors was far greater. They lacked the power and skill to react in time, leading to several of them being crushed by massive chunks of stone and many injured or killed by other effects. It didn't hurt that they were the actual target of the attack.

Harry didn't bother interfering, instead opting to watch whatever little trick the rebels had planned. They had planned their explosion quite well. It was perfectly positioned to instantly kill the majority of the security force, leaving only a few scattered hit wizards and aurors behind.

He watched with interest as a dozen figures garbed in light grey robes adorned with the symbol of a phoenix burst into the large chamber through the gaping hole in the wall. They were fast, disciplined, and strong. Before the security force could recover the rebels – he supposed they were the remnants and revival of the Order of the Phoenix, at least if their robes and Fleur's little speech was anything to go by – had begun to cut them down.

They had good technique, he observed. Someone had put a lot of time and effort into training them, a rarity when it came to the rebels. The scattered remnants of the rebellion simply didn't have the time to train their soldiers well.

Of course, he suspected that it was not the Wizengamot that they were so casually killing that they really wanted. The Wizengamot had little real power anymore, and they were hated enough by the public to ruin any hope of dampening morale.

At least Zabini was safe in her manor. Her son had become an accomplished warder, and the lavish home was practically impenetrable. It would take an entire Ministry team several days to safely deactivate them.

That meant he was a likely target, although he noticed that they had rescued Fleur in the midst of the confusion. It looked like they had given her a portkey, as he could no longer see the shimmering silver head of hair.

Harry smiled as he sensed four powerful stunners slam into his back. He didn't even bother batting them away, instead simply letting his own monstrously strong magic neutralize them. The wizard turned around, hiding his wand as he did so. It wouldn't do for them to take the wand that felt so _right_ with him.

He saw that one particularly beautiful young witch with silver hair and wide, innocent blue eyes was the leader. She looked at him with a mix of horror and betrayal in her eyes before her face hardened. The others looked warily at him, not showing the fear they must have been feeling as the Monster gazed at them with amusement.

"Hello, Gabrielle." He said softly, not in the sadistic tone the rebels were used to. "I suppose you're going to want to take me to your little base? Well let's get going."

She didn't say anything but withdrew a pair of powerful looking handcuffs. Harry doubted even he could break out of them. Small, glowing runes that told him of the handcuffs' true abilities – that to inhibit the magic of anyone wearing them – eerily shown in the plain steel.

"Where's your wand?" One of the rebels barked as he approached. Harry saw that the man was ready for action.

"I don't bring it with me to the Ministry." Harry shrugged. "Most people are far too afraid to even approach me, let alone attack me."

His lie clearly didn't convince his soon-to-be captors. They continued to warily look at him, each keeping a tight hand on their wands. Harry's eyes took on a murderous glint, morphing from the affable appearance the rebels had first met into the cold, blank eyes of the Monster.

"If I had my wand do you think that any of you would be alive right now?" He purred, grinning as they sent uneasy glances to each other. "Now, I suggest you leave. Aurors will be here soon, and I doubt that they'll take kindly to your intrusion."

Realizing that he spoke the truth the rebels roughly handcuffed him. They continued to watch him, likely expecting him to use some form of unnaturally powerful magic. Perhaps they expected him to consume them with fireballs from his eyes. Rumors had grossly inflated his level of power, although he found them amusing.

Harry blinked as the handcuffs were secured. A familiar tugging in his gut tore him from the Ministry and brought him to his temporary prison. Without the full power of his magic behind him he suddenly realized why lesser wizards found portkeys so jarring. It had managed to stun him for a few moments, more than enough time for his foes to kill him.

He shrugged his momentary concern off and examined his surroundings. The rebels appeared to be based in a castle of some sort, although it wasn't Hogwarts. It appeared to be muggle in design, lacking the magical paintings and the other trademarks of magical castles. Harry also noticed that it lacked the invigorating feel that most magical fortresses possessed. A window – barred with thick iron rods – stood high into the wall, allowing thick beams of sunlight into the room.

The wizard also noticed that there were more than twenty wizards cramped into this small room, each with their wand leveled at him. Harry snorted. It was nice to see how much they respected his abilities, but he had to admit that this was overkill. Those handcuffs limited him to the level of an ordinary wizard, which would certainly prevent him from singlehandedly butchering the entire castle.

One of them – a tall, stern looking woman that he recognized as the former Transfiguration Professor of Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall – stepped forward, flanked by two burly redheads. They were identical, and their features marked them as Weasleys.

Harry simply smiled up at them, heedless of the glares from the entire population of the room. Inside, however, he was cursing his weakness at not being able to kill them. The Weasleys had proven to be annoyances for the entirety of the civil war, each of them taking a leading role in it. Bill had led his own sect of the resistance; the second oldest had proven himself as a dangerous fighter; the twins that he was currently grinning at had been a bit looser with morals and more innovative than the rest of their family; and the others had also joined in on the fighting, albeit with less skill than the rest of their irritating family.

"What is your name, Monster?" She said tightly. Minerva's voice was clear and much stronger than he had expected it to be. Harry just looked up at her with a bored expression, clearly unimpressed.

"Monster will be fine." He said. "For now, anyways. Maybe when we're better friends I'll tell you more."

Her already thin lips practically vanished as her face tightened. Harry supposed he reminded her of the disobedient pupils she had put up with while at Hogwarts. If he was lucky he might even irritate her enough to make her leave.

"Leave." She suddenly barked, causing the majority of the rebels – new members of Dumbledore's little Order, he supposed – to quietly leave the room. The two redheads stood by her side, continuing to glare at him.

"You've got your little birds well trained." He yawned. "Now what do you want? I have more important things to do than play your games."

"Do not test me." Minerva hissed. "I am not one of your lackeys in the Ministry. I am a desperate woman that is more than willing to use brutal methods to get my information."

Harry yawned again, utterly bored by her little attempt at intimidation. If Minerva thought she could scare him like one of her little students she had another thing coming. Nothing she could do was half as bad as the punishments his parents had given to him.

She pursed her lips – he was sure that they had become nonexistent by this point – and made another threat.

"This is your last chance." The old woman warned. Her little bodyguards tensed up and grins began to split their faces. It looked like they were quite enthralled with the idea of getting revenge on him.

"Do your worst." He sneered, dropping his veneer of politeness. "Perhaps you might even hurt me after a while."

"Very well." She sighed. "Fred, George, do whatever is necessary to get the information we require. Make sure he's alive by the end."

They grinned and cracked their knuckles. As Minerva hurriedly left the room, pausing only to give one last glance at Harry, the twins withdrew their wands. Harry simply smiled as they began their "interrogation".

Harry didn't flinch as one of them launched a bludgeoner into his ribs, cracking several of them. He suspected that they would be giving much worse to him over the next few hours.

"You know." One of the twins said as they glared down at him. "You might as well just tell us everything you know now. We can do this for as long as you want to play."

"Please." He snorted in response. "If I told you everything I know your feeble little minds wouldn't be able to handle it. So get on with the torture."

"Sounds good to me." The other said, raising his wand. Harry sighed as a thin cut appeared on his chest, tearing apart his battle robes. One of the twins noticed the lessened effect and took the expensive garment off, leaving Harry in nothing more than a thin shirt and pants.

"Oi, Fred." One said. George motioned to a small stone platform. "Put him up on there. It'll make it easier than just cursing him on his feet."

Harry suddenly found himself roughly jerked off of the ground and slammed onto the hard, rough stone. He held in a hiss as his broken ribs took some of the impact, although the sudden increase in his breathing rate caused even more pain. Fred and George began their assault on him, asking him questions every few minutes.

The hours passed on slowly, although Harry stood strong. This was a necessary part of his plan, even if it was a rather unpleasant experience. Had his magic been unbound he would have barely felt their spells, but he realized just how fragile and weak he was without his full power. It was rather eye-opening.

Still, the pain wasn't as bad as he had feared. The twins seemed leery of using the cruciatus, although things like bludgeoners and cutters were fair game. They had even used a weak variant of incendio on him once, although they realized that it was too dangerous to use very much. Those burns were quite irritating, however.

After what he judged to be three hours of the interrogation, the twins seemed exhausted. They glared at him one last time as they left his little prison in a rage, although they activated the latent effects on his handcuffs before leaving. Harry managed to give them one last smile and wave before the handcuffs immobilized him.

Harry felt a slight surge of fear before he quashed it. Instead he was left with a lingering sense of unease. He hated being helpless, and being immobilized was one of the worst experiences of his life.

He tried to sleep to escape the sheer boredom, which was turning out to be the worst torture of all. Harry was quite used to being stimulated, whether it was in combat or simply playing with the government. This was one of the dullest experiences he'd had in a very long time.

The weakened wizard began to play mental games and map out a route to escape from this place. If he could reach his hidden wand then it would be child's play, but to do that he would have to get someone to release him from the handcuffs. And, considering where he was, that was quite possibly the most unlikely thing to happen.

It seemed that he would be stuck here for a while, although he would be able to break the damn handcuffs after a while. Those bloody things were meant to limit the power in above average wizards, not wizards that were exponentially more powerful than the average wizard such as himself. The stress from binding his power would begin to overwhelm the enchantments soon enough.

Harry sighed and tried to sleep. The pain from his wounds irritated him too much, however, despite the various healing potions the twins had given him to keep him from dying. He was resigned to facing exhaustion the next day and began to make more plans to escape.

Suddenly he heard the sound of a doorknob twisting. He glanced up as best he could to see whoever was coming in, but he could only see the bottom of the door pushing inwards. In a display of monumental willpower he forced his head up a few inches, allowing him to look straight ahead. Harry gasped with the effort it had taken to break the spell for that long, and hoped that his visitor wasn't a vengeful family member or friend come to kill him.

"So," he called into the darkness, glad that the enchantment didn't affect his mouth very badly, "who is it that interrupts my lovely imprisonment?"

The intruder stepped into the thin beam of moonlight with their wand out. Harry's eyes widened imperceptibly as he recognized the fine-boned, angelic features and silvery blonde hair. A sigh of disappointment escaped him as he saw the thin, delicate wand point at his forehead.

"I'm sure you remember me, Hadrian." Gabrielle said in a soft voice that barely hid the hatred and betrayal that writhed beneath the surface. "I remember you quite well, _Monster_."

He felt something utterly foreign to him – remorse and disappointment. Harry frowned at the lump that suddenly appeared in his throat. These feelings always emerged around her, whether due to her veela aura or his own remnants of humanity he wasn't quite sure. He had to admit that he disliked Gabrielle's hatred of him. It was a stark and undesirable contrast to the rather happy girl that he had grown used to.

"Ah," the chained man said quietly, "so we've come to that little hitch. What do you want me to say? I don't regret my actions, although I do regret that you've been pulled into their consequences. You weren't supposed to get involved, not after the warning last time we met."

"That only made me all the more willing when I was finally of age." Gabrielle said tightly, her emotions held back. "I thought that you were a member of the resistance – I thought that since you were my savior and protector you would be a hero. Instead I find out that you're the monster that's been the only thing to keep the Ministry in power."

Harry grimaced. "It is my Ministry, not yours. Tell me, why did you feel the need to get involved in this conflict? You could just stay in France and be safe with your family. I wouldn't let the Ministry harm you."

"I got involved because your Ministry is run by monsters! You're oppressing and murdering innocent people, and my parents raised me to fight that. I'm involved because I want to help restore justice back to Britain."

He nodded sagely. "You know, your English is quite good. Where did you learn it?"

Gabrielle was clearly flummoxed by the strange change of subject. Harry smiled as she was knocked off balance by the change.

"We aren't talking about that!" She growled. "Why are you being so difficult?"

"Let me tell you a little story." He said, ignoring her question. Harry wasn't quite sure where he was going with this, but it distracted Gabrielle from her anger. "It's about a small boy in an orphanage. The boy was _different_. He could make people fear him simply by wanting them to be hurt. He could hurt people. He could get revenge on them. He was bullied all the time – although he stirred up most of the problems himself, in retrospect – and drew the ill will of the Matron."

"What is the point of this?" Gabrielle harshly asked. Harry silenced her with a glare.

"You'll see. Now, one day he went too far in his punishments and was about to be sent away from the orphanage. But three people attacked it in their search for him." Gabrielle listened intently, trying to glean any important information. Harry smiled before continuing. This was where he would have to put some lies in.

"They searched for the boy, for he was their son. He had been taken from them many years ago and they had searched for him the entire time. One of the people – the boy's uncle – tried to attack him, not recognizing the boy. This caused the boy to kill the man in his fear, but the boy's parents merely saw this as proof of his power.

The parents took the boy and raised him, although they had to run from the aurors the entire time. Despite the hardships he faced, the boy flourished. He grew in power quickly, learning in leaps and bounds. Aside from a few…accidents." Harry said, thinking about the gnarled black remnants of his hands before he got his better ones. "Nothing went wrong until he was twelve. That was when the aurors caught up with them. The family escaped to their friends, who found them a small home in France where they could live in peace."

Gabrielle's eyes widened, realizing where the story was heading. Harry assumed she had figured out that he was describing his own life quite early. She was quiet, waiting for whatever he was going to say. For now at least it seemed her anger had abated.

"And for more than a year and a half they did. The boy was trained by a powerful wizard and became one of the most powerful fighters in the world, capable of controlling his incredible power with ease. But the master eventually had to leave, which left the family alone. By then the boy had far outstripped his parents.

Still, they continued to live in peace. But the mother had begun to lose her sanity, which had been kept through a variety of spells and potions. A month after the master had left; she escaped the home and went on a rampage, finding a little girl and her father in an alley."

Gabrielle's eyes were hard now, and he thought he could see them shining with unshed tears in the moonlight.

"The mother killed the little girl's father before the boy could do anything, and had begun to hurt the little girl by the time he arrived. For the first time in a long time the boy had to protect something, use his power for something other than his own gain. So he fought his mother off and healed the little girl, ensuring that she would be safe. Then he had to run from the aurors again, but this time the mother was captured and the boy's father went insane. The new circumstances caused the father to be captured as well, leaving the boy to find his own path in the world."

"Now tell me, Gabrielle," He said, ending the story, "did you ever learn the identity of your attacker?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange." She said in disgust, a strong hatred prevalent in her voice. "And you are her son, Hadrian Lestrange. No wonder you're such a monster."

Harry flinched at her tone, the words hurting more than they should. He had expected revulsion and rejection, although he had certainly never expected it to actually hurt.

"Trust me." He said bitterly. "I despise that bitch as much as you. She ruined a lot more than your life. You can leave now. Go tell your little Order the Monster's identity."

Gabrielle turned around, but didn't leave.

"Why did you rescue me all those times then? You didn't have to help me the last time you met, although the second time was just your job."

"Who knows?" Harry retorted. "You made me feel human the first few times. By the last you were one of my last links to my former life. It's rather strange being around you."

"But why did you save me the first time?" She asked. "You could have left me to die. It would have been easier to escape with the bitch."

"I don't know many reasons except for one." Harry admitted. "Maybe it was your allure telling me to protect you. Maybe it was the last little bit of my morals that hadn't been burned away by my bastard parents. But it was certainly to protect my family from any further charges. I still thought the world of them back then."

"To protect your family?" She hissed.

"Yes." He said. "To protect my family. Was that really such a bad thing? Back then I didn't realize how much better I was without them."

"Of course it was a bad thing!" She shouted, her voice echoing off of the walls. "They were monsters and terrorists! They tortured people _into insanity_!"

"I have little love for them now. Let's return to the important matters, our time grows short. Now, what could I do to convince you to leave Britain? The rebellions are about to pick back up and you can't die, not when this is a fight that isn't even your own."

"How dare you." She growled with burning blue eyes. Harry was genuinely surprised at her reaction, expecting her to be slightly annoyed at the most or accept at the best. "I will not leave my friends behind to you and your disgusting government. Nor will I leave innocent people to suffer underneath your rule, not when they will never know freedom or kindness from you!"

"Damn it, Gabrielle!" He shouted, his anger at her refusal overpowering him. Couldn't she see that he was trying to do one more good thing with his life? This wasn't for his own greatness or satisfaction. "You have no part in this war, no part in this entire conflict. I am extending an offer of mercy that would keep you and your family intact and alive! The rebellions will be quashed when I am free and Britain will be under my hand! The Isles are about to burn, and you shouldn't be here when they do."

Harry despised her right now. He despised how he brought out those irritating emotions that he had kept away for so long. She was his morality chain right now, the last thing that kept him human. It would be a shame if he had to kill her. Why couldn't she just leave?

"Have you not noticed that your rebellions are dying?" He continued. "Your members are being cut down by the dozen and I grow stronger every day. Most have accepted our rule and these wars are nearing a close. I don't want you around when it finally ends. Not even I could protect your family if you keep on fighting."

Gabrielle stared at him for a moment, mixed emotions splayed across her face. She opted to glare at him for a few more moments before bustling out of the small room. Harry looked at her as she left; silently hoping that she would take his offer to leave.

Harry stared at the thick wooden door before he began to focus on the hatred and fear for Gabrielle that her visit had spawned. His hands began to glow, the raw emotion fuelling his magic. The power began to grow and lash out, slowly overwhelming the enchantments on the handcuffs.

The bound wizard slowly gained more mobility as the glow from his hands grew brighter and brighter as he focused intently on his new emotions, his power slowly being restored to him as the enchantments began to break.

After half an hour of the focus and slowly burning away the frayed enchantments the handcuffs were rendered nothing more than plain steel. Harry grinned and allowed the emotions to fade away before forcing power into his hands.

The room was lit up by silver light as he burnt away the handcuffs with the magic. Harry was glad that he didn't have to worry about blood flow, as his entire body was stiff and unwieldy at the moment. He withdrew his wand from the area he had hidden it – the Order was rather stupid to neglect searching his pockets – and uttered a few incantations, tapping different parts of his body and healing the wounds and fatigue that had set in.

When he was finally ready to move, he began to wonder just where his spies were. The Order had several double agents working for them, and they would gladly assist him in the hopes of a reward. In fact, he suspected that they would be waiting outside the door to help him escape.

Unfortunately for them he didn't want to escape. Not yet, anyways. He hadn't let himself be captured by the Order on a whim. No, he wanted access to their base for a reason.

Harry was going to kill Minerva and all of her lieutenants. This was the last great bastion of the rebels, and he was going to tear it to the ground if he had to. He didn't like the Order, not when they had attempted to assassinate him several times.

Besides, he thought as he felt the lingering pain from the twins' little torture session, he had quite the bone to pick with some of them. Harry gingerly held his wand in his hand as he limped to the wooden door, wincing as the pains continued. Even magic could take a while for injuries to heal.

Harry tried pushing the thick wood open, but it seemed to only open from the outside. It looked as though he would have to do it the fun way. He leveled his wand at the door and backed away. When he was a safe distance away he jabbed his wand towards the door and blasted it open.

He was on guard as he slowly moved past the broken remnants of the door. His wand was steady as he carefully looked outside the hallway, and prepared to lash out when he saw two figures standing outside of the door, although they were deceptively calm.

One of them noticed him and motioned to the other shadowy figure. They both lowered their wands and bowed to Harry.

"Sir. We have sent word to the Ministry. For now, however, our main priority is to get you out of here."

"That's unfortunate." Harry said to the spy.

"Err…what?" The small man asked dumbly. His partner had a similar reaction.

"I didn't let myself be kidnapped simply to leave. I want the blood of everyone in this damned castle. So tell me what defenses it's under."

"The fidelius charm, sir." The first spy said, recovering quickly from his shock. "That was the most secure charm that they could come up with. The Order doesn't have enough time or power to put up additional wards yet."

"Good." Harry grinned, hiding a wince as his muscles burned. "Do either of you know the secret, or were you brought here without your knowledge."

"I'm high enough in the Order to know the location. Just kill the secret keeper, Minerva McGonagall and I can pull everyone in the Ministry here." The second one said in a rather high voice.

Harry nodded. "I need one of you to lead me to her. Killing any guards would be child's play, but we don't have much time before they discover that I have escaped. You," he said, motioning to the second spy, "get to somewhere that you could connect to the Ministry. I want as many hit wizards out as we can."

The man nodded and scrambled away to fulfill his orders. Harry looked at the first spy. "Guide me to McGonagall. I'll disillusion and silence myself."

He quickly hid himself with the charms and followed closely behind the first spy. Harry was careful to watch the man. Spies were inherently untrustworthy, and he had to be prepared should this man deliver him into the hands of the Order.

Harry and the spy walked through the castle quickly. There were few guards in the halls and they simply nodded or waved to the spy. Security was rather abhorrent. In his Ministry the spy would have been questioned or forced to give identification several times by now.

Surprisingly enough the spy didn't betray him. That might have been due to the fact Harry had his wand pressed into the man's spine, but perhaps it was an actual sign of loyalty. The average looking man had led Harry to a long hallway with five doors on each side. At the very end a sturdy looking wooden door that held the familiar light glow of an enchantment stood strong.

The spy walked him down to the door and handed Harry a large metal key. Harry had to move a bit to get it, sense the man couldn't see him, and pushed it into the keyhole. He grimaced as the sound of screeching metal hit his ears.

Harry quietly walked into the room, noticing that McGonagall was still asleep in her bed. He still glanced around to make sure it wasn't an illusion. The old woman was well-known to be formidable in battle, and he would have expected some sort of defenses besides the wards on the door. It was simple for anyone to bypass them so long as they had a key.

He walked up next to the small bed and leveled his wand at her neck. Two softly spoken words and a flash of green light killed the greatest foe that the Ministry had faced in recent years. Soon the Ministry would be free to arrive and put down these little birds.

Of course, there was one small problem. Gabrielle wouldn't die today. Not if he had anything to say about it. She was the last person he even had the slightest bit of feeling for, and he would preserve her.

So he prowled the halls looking for her. It was more than ten minutes until he felt the fidelius charm shatter and anti-apparition wards rise up in its place and he still hadn't found her.

Harry felt a slight bit of panic as he heard the screams and clashes of combat. Gabrielle seemed to be one of the better fighters in the Order, so she would almost certainly be fighting off the intruders. With that in mind he quickly made his way towards the battle with his wand at the ready.

He casually dispatched all of the rebels he came across, not even bothering to stop as he sent a killing curse at them. Most didn't even have a chance to realize that their death was coming, and those that did couldn't block the streak of green light.

The sounds of combat had grown loud and prevailed over any other noise in the castle. He walked through an opened door that led to yet another long hallway, albeit one full of flashes of light and corpses. He felt a brief flash of fear as he spotted a dead female, but sighed in relief when he didn't see the silvery hair that would mark her as Gabrielle.

He turned his attention back to the battle. No one seemed to be using killing curses, although bludgeoners and stunners seemed to be the most common. It looked like the Ministry wanted the Order alive in order to make an example out of them.

Harry continued to walk down the hallway, but didn't see Gabrielle. He only had to bat a few misplaced spells away and thanks to his disillusionment no one attempted to stop him. Harry saw a door slightly ajar and walked into it, wondering if Gabrielle or Fleur had realized that fighting the sheer numbers the Ministry seemed to be throwing at the Order was useless.

Fortunately, his assessment seemed to be correct. Three aurors were dueling the two sisters together and seemed to be having a fair degree of difficulty. They weren't used to fighting in the cramped surroundings and the sisters seemed to be distracting them with their aura.

One of the aurors finally managed to land a good hit on Gabrielle, cutting a deep slash into her stomach, causing a thick spray of blood to erupt. The girl collapsed and the aurors moved in for the kill. Even as they spoke the words to the killing curse Harry saw nothing but red.

Despite his anger he lost little of his efficiency. A deft flick of his wand and a few hate-filled thoughts snapped each of the aurors neck, twisting them around so that they were staring at him. Another flick caused an unearthly white fire to appear near their feet, devouring them.

He calmed down and turned to the door, closing and locking it. A notice-me-not charm would keep all but the most perceptive of his forces away from them.

"Hello, Fleur, Gabrielle." Harry said as he wiped off his disillusionment charm. Fleur instantly leveled her wand at him, although she didn't attempt to attack. It was clear that she didn't recognize him. Her clear blue eyes glared at him with suspicion, and he could see that she would be more than willing to curse him.

"I suggest you simply do what I say." He growled, disarming Fleur before she could blink. "If you don't leave right now than you are going to be murdered by my forces."

Fleur tensed up at the mention of "his" forces, but simply looked on in confusion as he threw her wand at her.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Hadrian." He responded as he grabbed a quill from its holder and began to change it into a portkey. "We've met before, although I doubt that you remember me. Now, I need you to take this portkey when I'm done with it and get you and Gabrielle out of here. Don't return to Britain."

She tried to question him again, but he sent a quick silencer her way. He took the pencil and handed it to her before he began to heal Gabrielle. It was a simple process – it wasn't as though it was permanent, he just needed for her to survive the grievous injury she had been dealt – and he was finished in just a few moments.

He carefully levitated her and dropped her next to Fleur, who was still looking at him in confusion. She wrapped the unconscious Gabrielle's hand around the pencil as well before turning up to Harry with a look of recognition.

"I know—"She began to exclaim before the portkey glowed and tore her away from the slaughter. Harry looked around the bare room before his eyes settled on the incinerated forms of the aurors. He changed their remains into a single bone before kicking it underneath the bed.

His mission was fulfilled and Gabrielle had survived. He would let the aurors and hit wizards finish the rest of this mission. Harry took one last look around before creating his own portkey. It glowed for a moment before bringing him back to his home.

Xx

The raid was a complete success. It appeared that almost every member of the new Order of the Phoenix had been at the castle, spare some that had been on missions and others that had been operating away from the main base. His greatest threat was now shattered, breaking the back of the slowly resurging rebellion.

Harry grinned as the news of several of the Order's most prolific members' deaths reached his ears. Minerva had been killed by him personally, of course, but one of the twins had been confirmed to be dead. The other had somehow escaped. Still, it gave him a hint of satisfaction to see one of his torturers dead.

Of course, the reports also showed confusion over the escapes of Fleur and Gabrielle Delacour. He had simply smirked at that and filed any reports that asked too deep of questions. Those that wrote them might have to be killed or imperiused later.

His grin grew wider as he continued to read the reports, realizing that he had nearly broken the rebels' spirit. There were at least twenty that had given themselves up already, a decent number considering just how much the rebels had dwindled in strength over the years.

Soon his Ministry would be secure and indomitable, the last true bastion of power in Britain. He had prolonged the war for quite a while, but it looked like it was time to let it die. The rebels were so weak now that they posed little to no challenge to him anyways, so the fun had been lost for quite a while now. Besides, perhaps peace would be good for him. He could still hone his skills.

He leaned back in the luxurious leather chair, staring at the last report in the stack. It had been quite the annoyance; something that proved that Gabrielle wouldn't listen to him. Both her and Fleur had been spotted in Britain once more and had killed several aurors while doing so.

_6:32 AM. July 28, 2002. _

_Auror Captain Apato Selwyn. _

_Diagon Alley._

_Subjects identified with several other known rebels including Draco Malfoy and Fortun Willowgreen. Spotted picking up suspicious package and possibly killing several hit wizards with stealth. Auror Crabbe, Auror Goyle, and Auror Boot moved to apprehend targets, supported by Hitwizards Lana, Atheni, and Redroot. _

_Subjects allowed Ministry personnel to near them before attacking. Malfoy killed Auror Crabbe with the killing curse before personnel could react. Willowgreen and unidentified rebel killed Auror Goyle as well. The three rebels apparated before wards could go up. Subjects Gabrielle Delacour (?) and Fleur Delacour (?) killed the Hit wizards and Auror Boot before leaving. _

_French Ministry has refused to take action against them. Hides them and forced representatives out of France. Requesting permission to send assassins to Delacour Manor._

Harry denied the request. Gabrielle would not be assassinated when he could prevent it. Killing her was the very last resort. Imprisonment was the prime option, and he would prefer to simply convince her to stay far, far away from Britain. He didn't plan on attacking France anytime soon, so she should be safe enough there.

He filed the report away for now. His room had been converted to have an office next to it, so he didn't have to constantly travel back to the war room. Zabini still handled almost everything since he preferred to be in the field, but requests that her imperius couldn't deal with were sent to him, as well as reports on important raids.

The tired wizard collapsed onto the luxurious bed, his mind pulling itself into sleep even as he created complex plans to break the rebels once and for all. It was time for him to become the undisputed master of Britain, and these pathetic rebels were all that stood in his way.

XxXx

The next six months were brutal for the rebels. Harry led the Ministry into a true war, not the small skirmishes and slaughters that he had been leading for the past few years. He finally marshaled the full might of the Ministry against the scattered remnants of the rebels, intent upon ending the war and restoring peace to Britain.

Everywhere the rebels tried to hide, they found the Ministry. They could not escape to the forests or mountains, and no one on the mainland even knew of their plight. Harry had blocked most information and travel between Britain and the mainland until the war was over, keeping any of the other Ministries from meddling in his affairs.

What were once scattered remnants of the great rebellions were now little more than roving paupers that struggled to survive in the wake of the Ministry's crackdown. Few magicals would even think of harboring them, not when the punishment for doing so was a decade at Azkaban and then the Kiss.

While even Harry admitted these measures were brutal, they were extremely effective at eliminating resistance. Few rebels even possessed a permanent home and lacked the resources to hide.

In summary, Harry had won. He now merely watched as his highly trained aurors and hit wizards tore the bands of rebels apart, partaking only when he saw a potential challenge. Harry no longer needed information on the other rebels, so the Ministry's dogs were free to use lethal force on every rebel they found.

And today the last band of rebels that possessed any powerful wizards would be destroyed. Harry had learned of their location through the old network he still had a hand in. It seemed that these rebels had eluded him for so long by dipping into the criminal underworld and performing certain deeds in exchange for safety.

Harry frowned. It seemed that he might have to destroy certain parts of Knockturn Alley if they kept this up. They were costing him more than they were helping him now.

He put it out of his mind, putting the heavy set of grey battle robes on. It still had the slash that Fred and George had put on it, although several people had offered to repair it after he'd recovered it from the Order base.

The wizard had refused these offers. It reminded him to pay the surviving Weasley twin back when he finally found him and his irritating little clan.

Besides, it was still functional. And, he thought as he draped the heavy robes over his shoulders, it was part of his image. When the rebels saw his grey robes they realized that the Monster was there to play.

It was time. The rebels wouldn't be moving today from their position in Knockturn Alley – a potent mix of blackmail, bribery, and threats had caused them to be delayed by his agents in the Alley – and they were nigh helpless against the sheer force that had been arrayed against him.

His force – comprised of thirty elite aurors, thirty hit wizards, and two Unspeakables to gather information –was silent as he walked up to the stage and addressed them. Harry actually liked forces like these. They were professional, quiet, and efficient. A rather stark contrast to the irritating little maggots that he had been forced to fight with under Lucius' rule.

"Ministry Personnel." He announced. "Today we end the last group of rebels that have a powerful wizard in their midst. Your orders are simple: Avoid unnecessary civilian casualties, eliminate every member of the rebels, and avoid any unnecessary property damage. Are there any questions?"

There were none. These highly trained, disciplined individuals knew the drill by now. He waved his wand and activated their portkeys. After ensuring that none had been left behind he utilized his own.

Harry appeared in an alley that he knew was only a few feet away from his targets. He apparated to the top of a nearby building, more than willing to simply observe. Should his aurors prove to be incapable of handing any of the members – unlikely, considering how well-armed and well-trained they were – he would step in.

He carefully watched as his aurors moved into position. The forty rebels were massed into a large group in one of the few open areas and seemed to suspect something was amiss. Each had their hands on their wand and one looked to be making portkeys. Several of them stood as sentries on the outskirts of the large crowd.

Soon enough, however, whatever suspicions they had became reality. A small advance force of aurors sent killing curses at the sentries, although one of them was fast enough to dodge it and called out a warning. That warning was all the rebels needed to become a deadly force.

What the large group didn't have in firepower they made up in numbers. They were outnumbered by the Ministry forces and few of them were above average in terms of ability according to his intelligence, but they could use their numbers to their advantage. Not many aurors could fight them at one time, although those that could were able to use area of effect spells to cause damage to a large amount of the rebels.

Harry observed the battle quickly. His aurors were taking far more casualties than he had expected, but the rebels were being butchered by blasting curses and other destructive spells. He ignored the group of rebels though, instead focusing on the individuals. It appeared that his intelligence was correct. Most were average wizards at best, only skilled in using their numbers to great effect.

There were more powerful members of the group than he had expected, though. He had easily picked out the leader, Susan Bones – a woman around the same age as him and highly knowledgeable about magical combat, something that she had been taught by Amelia Bones –in the fray. She was more than a match for his aurors, holding several of them off at once and killing several. He had to admire her skill, although he wouldn't put her down just yet.

She was the only one he had expected to be much trouble. But he was pleasantly surprised. There was another female that kept her face hidden, although her opponents seemed to fall into a stupor, an ability that made him suspicious of her identity. He noticed that she was almost as good as Bones, and was also quite a bit more brutal in her battles.

A tall man that he didn't recognize was also holding his own, protecting several of the weaker rebels while they peppered his aurors with inhibiting spells. He didn't pay that much attention to him, since he wasn't causing much damage.

What he did notice was the wizard that was producing portkeys. He didn't think that they had been completed yet, but some of them were beginning to glow. Harry wasn't about to let the rebels escape and carefully aimed his wand at the man before using the killing curse.

Amidst the chaotic battle the single jet of green light went unnoticed until it hit the wizard square in the chest. Several of the rebels screamed as their last chance of escape is eliminated. Harry returned to his former position and continued to watch the battle.

It went just as it had before until a rather interesting development cropped up. As the majority of the rebels were slaughtered by the unending numbers of aurors and hit wizards, leaving less than ten alive, and Bones was killed by a stray killing the witch with the hidden face retreated and raised her wand.

Harry watched intently as the aurors saw the apparent moment of weakness and prepared to let loose a barrage of curses. They would be unpleasantly surprised, however. He felt the familiar stirrings of the dark magic he was so familiar with and he looked with interest at the witch.

Even as the myriad of curses streaked towards the girl he realized that his aurors would lose this battle. The woman had used the most desperate move someone that hadn't mastered dark magic could make: She had released uncontrolled fiendfyre.

As soon as the aurors had realized what the woman had summoned they retreated, although the ones nearest to her couldn't hope to outrun the writhing inferno. Nearly fifteen aurors were devoured by the dark flames before they could escape. The rest apparated away to get help as soon as they could.

Unfortunately, they didn't have time. By the time they would find someone capable of defeating fiendfyre it would have destroyed the entire Alley, moving onto Diagon and possibly tearing down the barrier between the magical and muggle worlds. That would be an unprecedented disaster, and one that he would not allow to happen.

Harry had to do something that he had never heard of anyone doing before. He couldn't stop the fiendfyre, not when it was so massive and powerful that torrentus would do little against it and his own fiendfyre would have to build up its strength for several seconds – causing even more destruction – before overwhelming it.

He had to take control of it.

Although he wasn't quite sure how, he began by trying to use legilimency upon the primordial mind the fiendfyre possessed. Harry instantly tried to withdraw as he touched his mind to it.

Harry wasn't sure how to explain the feeling of forcing his mind into the intelligence of the fiendfyre. Its very presence seared into his mind, the ancient dark magic that fueled the monstrous flames causing even Harry to gag as the oily feeling encased his body.

But the fact was that by touching it the fiendfyre touched him. It felt as though every cell in his body was about to burn away, and his blood felt as though it would boil out of his skin. Harry was certainly more intelligent than it, but the fiendfyre's simple mind was _old_ and _twisted_ and full of the _hatred _its creator had poured into it. It couldn't match his intelligence or knowledge, but the simple mind made up of little more than the woman's hatred was more powerful than he could ever hope to be.

While he possessed magic that ruled his body and placed him far above all others, the fiendfyre _was _magic. Ancient, twisted magic that could make simple, hate-fueled decisions. And it made the decision to delve into his mind.

Harry couldn't hope to defend against it. The dark mind of the fiendfyre simply burned any of his attempts at occlumency away and branded his mind. He began to give up in the face of the overwhelming pain it was causing, but began to think of his Ministry and everything he had done in order to gain complete control over it.

For a single moment the fiendfyre wavered and was pushed back, but it recovered quickly and came back with renewed strength. Harry needed only that moment to realize that he couldn't simply focus on the things he had earned. The fiendfyre was created through raw emotion and raw emotion would draw it back.

Harry focused on the one thing that had driven his life for as long as he could remember. The pain only made it easier to focus on.

Hate.

He focused on everything he hated throughout his life: The pathetic little children at the orphanage, the Ministry and aurors for hunting them, Lucius Malfoy, his own parents, and so many other things. Harry grit his teeth as the hatred he felt forced the fiendfyre's brutal attempt at legilimency back and strengthened his own occlumency shields.

But he wasn't satisfied with simply pushing it back. No, he _hated_ the fiendfyre for the pain it caused him.

Harry roared and pushed past the light barriers that protected the fiendfyre's essence from him. The thin, metaphysical walls of magic that kept the fiendfyre under the woman's control just enough to keep it from turning on her were shattered and Harry's walls took their place.

He finally felt the agony go away and opened his eyes. The entire area of Knockturn Alley they had fought in had been destroyed by the inferno, but it seemed to have paused in its rampage as it fought its mental battle with Harry. Now it just needed to be extinguished.

The powerful wizard forced his will upon his newly acquired fiendfyre, extinguishing the dark, writhing flames and ending the woman's desperate attempt at wounding the Ministry. When it had faded away, he turned around and collapsed.

He was exhausted. The sheer power of the fiendfyre had sapped his strength even as he took control of it, and his muscles felt as though they would fail him any second. Harry cradled his head in his hands and breathed heavily in an attempt to breathe again. He placed a bubblehead charm to keep himself from breathing in ash and smoke.

Harry suddenly heard footsteps. He looked up with some difficulty and grabbed his wand. Should the intruder attack him he would prove that even at his weakest he far outclassed other wizards.

Unfortunately, the worst possible person had found him. Clear blue eyes, unnaturally beautiful features and a head of silvery hair confirmed the conjurer of the fiendfyre as Gabrielle.

"Are you here to kill me?" He asked warily, discreetly aiming his wand at her. Bright green met blue as they stared at each other. Gabrielle looked uncertain, although he was sure that she wanted to take full advantage of the situation.

"No." She admitted. Harry couldn't hold back the look of surprise on his face, although he noticed that Gabrielle seemed just as surprised at her admission.

"Why are you here then? You should leave before my aurors get here."

"Too late." She grimaced, an odd look on the face he had become used to seeing smiles on. "Four saw me come up here. They'll probably be up in a few seconds. I suppose this is the end."

"I suppose so." He coughed. "You could still run. That fiendfyre probably destroyed the anti-apparition wards."

"Can't do." She said tiredly. "That was only the second time I've used fiendfyre, and I still can't control it at all. I just told it to kill everything but me. And thanks to that it completely drained me."

Harry just nodded, too tired to say anything. Suddenly the door that Gabrielle had entered through was kicked open and four aurors leapt out with their wands raised. They focused on Gabrielle until they saw his ash covered form.

"Damn it!" One cried. "Tell everyone not to come up here. If they figured out that he died on our watch than Zabini will have our heads."

Hmm. Apparently they thought he was dead. That opened up quite a few opportunities to exploit. He let his body slacken, seemingly oblivious to the worried look on Gabrielle's face. The aurors completely ignored him now, although one did him a favor by blowing the smoke out of the area.

"Gabrielle Delacour, heh?" One of the other aurors growled. "You've killed a lot of good men, and if you got the Monster killed we're going to make this very painful for you. Stevenson, check his pulse."

One of the aurors carefully drew near, but as soon as he kneeled Harry moved. Ignoring his fatigue Harry flicked his wand, snapping the man's neck. The other aurors' attention was drawn to their newly dead comrade, and they suddenly appeared to decide it would be better to kill him.

Harry coughed as he fended off several flurries of spells from the aurors. Despite his current immobility and exhaustion they quickly fell before him. He ignored the pain and picked them off with well placed killing curses, although he made sure they were far away from Gabrielle before he used the killing curse.

Gabrielle killed the last of the three aurors with a blasting curse to the torso, completely destroying the upper body. Harry shielded both of them from the explosion of gore and vanished the dead man's body and transfigured the auror corpses into small stones.

"Throw those off of the building." He muttered to Gabrielle. "After that, find me a piece of rubble. I need to get you out of here before the others arrive."

"Why are you helping me?" She asked warily as she followed his commands. "I'm a rebel, and probably one of the best fighters left."

"Why didn't you kill me the moment you found me?" He retorted as she placed a small piece of shattered brick into his hand. Harry slowly began to weave enchantments around it in order to make a portkey that would take her back to Delacour Manor. "Perhaps it's because I've saved your life. But the reason I'm helping you is because I don't want to kill you."

She frowned at that, but didn't say anything except, "You're still a monster and I still hate you." as she took the small piece of rubble from him. Harry said one last thing to her, forcing down the twinge of remorse he felt at her words.

"Sorry." He said, feeling genuine remorse as he suddenly leveled his wand at her and blasted a wave of force into her small frame. She was thrown back heavily onto the stone roof and only a cushioning charm prevented her from dying.

Suddenly more aurors moved in from the destroyed door. They saw Gabrielle's body, but assumed that she was dead. The aurors were much more concerned with his safety, and didn't notice the portkey that activated and took her to safety.

They didn't even care about the supposedly dead girl escaping, too busy trying to heal Harry and find him a portkey. Harry coughed a few more times before the sheer strain he had put his body through forced him unconscious.

He awoke several hours later in his bed. Several potions were by his bedside and instructions on how to use them were engraved on the bottles. Five reports on the last raid stood by them and he eagerly picked them up to read the reports.

All of the rebels save for Gabrielle had been killed, although they had realized Gabrielle was still alive when the portkey had taken her away. The Ministry was currently trying to bully the French Ministry into giving her to them for the destruction of a large portion of Knockturn Alley. Aside from the unforeseen fiendfyre, the raid was a complete success and utterly obliterated the last of the influential rebel sects.

Of course, Harry had been given even more honors for stopping the fiendfyre, including an Order of Merlin, First Class. No one knew his real name, but he was simply honored as the Champion or some other idiotic title. Of course, anyone who had actually fought alongside him simply recognized him as the rebels' Monster.

He quelled these thoughts and grinned as he thought of Gabrielle's escape. Perhaps she would finally take his advice and stay away from Britain. For now, however, he had a country to run.

XxXxXx

It was a long three months for everyone. The Ministry had undergone drastic changes as it shifted from a martial organization to a more civil one. Harry ensured that it stayed prepared for war, but on the surface it appeared much calmer and more peaceful.

Several problems arose in the aftermath of the raid. It seemed that two of the aurors he had killed belonged to rather prominent families, and those families were calling out for blood. He fully expected them to try to settle things with Gabrielle in a rather bloody manner. Harry had sent discreet messages around the Ministry saying that Gabrielle would be his to kill, so hopefully they would be dissuaded from sending assassins after the girl.

Harry had finally brought Rodolphus and Bellatrix into Britain and put them into St. Mungo's in the permanent spell damage unit. Britain was safe enough for them now, and so long as they were sedated and kept calm they weren't a problem. Besides, they were practically catatonic anyways.

The last he had heard of his broken husks of parents were that they were kept around their former victims, the Longbottoms. Fortunately, both pairs were too broken to recognize each other, let alone try and fight again. Of course, he didn't plan on ever seeing the Lestranges again. They were kept around as trophies of his victory over the Ministry, and had they not been worth so much for nostalgia he would have killed them personally.

Harry had grown bored. He was allowing any remaining pockets of rebels to grow in strength before he moved to crush them. Apparently they had begun to seek each other out in an attempt to grow in strength.

Their current base seemed to be "the Burrow". From what Zabini could tell him it was little more than a ramshackle house that was held together through copious amounts of magic, but its size would allow many rebels to stay there.

Of course, it also had a more interesting little piece of information for Harry. It was the home of the Weasleys, the family that had irritated Harry for nearly six years. He gripped his glass of water tightly, accidently shattering it as he was reminded of the twins' attempts at torture.

Just a few more months until he could get his revenge and finally bring his peace to Britain. He absentmindedly repaired the glass and sipped from it, enjoying the cold water.

Just a few more months until he could prove Apolline Delacour right.


	9. Chapter 9: The Fall

A/N: Welcome to the last chapter of Infliction. I hope everyone has enjoyed it, and I have taken the first six chapters off and formed them into one chapter that is closer to the others in size. I'm not sure everyone will like the ending, but I'm happy with it. Anyways, make sure to get your last reviews in and PM me if you have any questions.

He clenched his fist around his wand, feeling the icy power flood up his arm. Harry gritted his teeth and glared at the carnage before him. The rebels had decided to perform one last, irritating raid on a target they had never touched before.

St. Mungo's.

Specifically, the permanent spell damage ward. Only two patients were attacked, but those that had been were very, very important to him. They were his trophies and prizes and they were currently splattered around the entire ward, utterly obliterated by a rebel's blasting curse.

The rebels had finally pushed him too far. They had killed Bellatrix and Rodolphus as a final act of defiance against him, and he would not allow them to escape his justice. The Lestranges were _his_. His to keep, his to kill, and his to care for.

Small flickers of lightning arced around his fingers and the aurors that had accompanied him backed away cautiously, wary of what the Monster would do in his rage. Harry barely kept himself under control as he stared at the remains of his parents. His hand twitched and the wand encouraged him to kill everyone in the room.

Harry gritted his teeth and replaced his rage with an icy calm. Rage would do nothing for him. He needed efficiency and planning for the slaughter he was about to commit.

"Aurors." He hissed. "Prepare thirty aurors and thirty hit wizards. It's time to end these rebellions once and for all."

"Yes, sir!" They exclaimed before scrambling away from him. Harry paid them little mind as he stared at the destroyed forms of his parents.

Only one person had the knowledge to strike his parents. There was no reason to assault this part of St. Mungo's other than to strike at him, and it was only made more suspicious due to the lack of attacks on the other residents of the hospital.

Gabrielle Delacour had finally overstepped her bounds. He had offered her mercy and aid many times over and he had thought she'd finally accepted his offer, only to discover that she was now throwing it in his face.

He snarled as he made a portkey to the Ministry. His retribution would be swift and overwhelming. Gabrielle and her little birds were going to be torn apart and destroyed with fiendfyre. Had he not been merciful to them for the past four months? After his destruction of the powerful rebels he had allowed these traitors a chance to earn their redemption and leave their petty struggle behind.

It was clear now that he had made a grievous mistake. Instead of taking advantage of his mercy they had simply festered like an infected wound upon Britain. They were all going to be put down like the rabid animals they were.

He barely even noticed as he appeared in the Ministry staging area. Harry was already wearing his grey battle robes and was more than ready for combat. His wand was ice in his hand as he took to the podium and began to speak to the aurors that had already assembled.

"Hello, my friends." He greeted in a deceptively calm tone. "I have gathered you all to put an end to these rebels once and for all. They were given the chance to flee, but they have thrown it in our faces. The rebels have attacked the one place that all sides have recognized as a safe haven."

Stony faces glared back at him, each auror disgusted by the rebels. St. Mungo's had been recognized as de facto neutral territory for a very long time, and any group that violated the hospital was destroyed swiftly.

"Capture as many rebels as you can." Harry ordered. "We are going to make an example out of them and eliminate any rebellions from forming on British soil ever again. Kill if you believe it necessary. Are there any questions."

His disciplined aurors didn't ask anything. They knew what he expected out of them and set out to go above and beyond his expectations every time. Harry waved his wand and activated their portkeys, staying behind for a few moments to ensure that everyone had left.

He activated his own portkey and found himself standing in front of his men. They had appeared in a small area directly outside the Burrow. After intelligence realized that it was the new base of the rebels hundreds of portkeys were created in order to attack at a moment's notice.

"Curse breakers, destroy their wards and set up anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards. None of these mongrels are going to escape us."

Six aurors in grey robes nodded and began to cast spells at the Burrow. Harry ignored most of their chanting and examined the home.

It was a pathetic work of construction. The house was at least seven stories and was falling apart. He assumed that additional space had been created inside it using charms, but those charms would be extremely unstable. A powerful enough spell would cause the expansion charms to collapse, which could easily kill or injure anyone caught in the failing charms.

He thought of simply conjuring fiendfyre to tear through the wards and condemn the rebels to a torturous death, but realized that it wouldn't make them suffer long enough. They would be sent to Azkaban for at least ten years before he allowed any of them to be Kissed, and he wouldn't let them escape that fate so easily.

Harry grinned at the thought of eliminating the rebels, but suddenly felt something biting him. He looked down into the thick, uncut grass he was standing in and saw a small, potato shaped creature clamping down on his leg. The wizard sneered at it and picked it up.

The small creature tried to struggle away but he held it tightly and snapped the gnomes' small neck before dropping it. It was unwise of the irritating little creature to attack him today. He was not in the mood for such things.

"Sir, we have fulfilled our orders." One of the curse breakers said. Harry nodded his thanks and began walking further down the path to the pathetic home. He swept around the traps that had been set up, easily neutralizing the majority of them with a jab of his wand.

Harry finally made it to the door and tapped his throat with his wand, sending an icy sensation through it. With his voice – made much louder with the sonorus charm – enhanced he cleared his throat and shouted, "By the command of the Ministry, you are to allow us entry. Should you resist your arrest you shall be executed immediately!"

He waited for a moment and motioned for his aurors to surround the home. The rebels would not be escaping him this time. When no one opened the door for him – which was what he expected to happen – he leveled his wand at the flimsy wood door and blasted it down, quickly leaping to the side.

His caution was rewarded as several killing and blasting curses streaked out of the doorway, impacting three of the aurors behind him. Harry gave an annoyed glance at the aurors as the three were killed by the curses and swept into the room.

The wizard conjured a wall of fire and forced it outwards into the room. It wouldn't burn anything but living beings, so he didn't have to worry about unnecessary destruction. Panicked and pained screams greeted his ears as several of the twenty-something rebels in the room were too slow to dodge or shield against it.

Harry wasted no time and moved behind a torn couch. He identified all of the surviving Weasleys – Molly, Arthur, the other twin, Ginevra, and Ronald – and a large group of rebels that weren't quite as distinctive. Fortunately he didn't see Gabrielle amongst them, although he knew that she had to be in this place somewhere.

He smiled as a variety of curses landed on the couch, scorching it and tearing the battered piece of furniture even more. Harry heard several of his aurors moving in as well and taking some of the heat off of him. It sounded like several of the rebels had already been killed.

It was a grave mistake on the rebels' part. Harry was now free to stand up and deliver his own retribution for what the fools had done. He slashed his wand at the rebels and tore their cover – some used furniture, much like he had – and shields apart with a dramatically overpowered cutting curse.

More screams greeted his ears as the cutting curse slashed into their frail bodies, their magic far too weak to protect them from the curse. Harry leapt over his cover and heard a crashing at the back of the house. It seemed that the aurors had finally come in to flank the rebels.

One of the Weasleys – he thought it was Ronald – saw him and raised his wand to attack him. Harry sneered and shot a blasting curse at the tall man's chest. The other Weasleys screamed in shock and sorrow as Ronald's torso exploded, splattering them with his remains. Harry flicked his wand and shielded him and his aurors from the gore.

The rebels' retribution was swift. They focused all of their attention on Harry, completely ignoring the aurors that flanked them as they sent a ridiculous number of lethal spells at the Monster. Harry rolled his eyes and batted the majority of them away easily, the streaks of light easily tracked and avoided. He only had to move in order to dodge the four killing curses that flew towards him.

Unfortunately for his foes, their attack left them completely open for his aurors. Half of them had been stunned or paralyzed, and the rest were too focused on destroying Harry to realize their end was in sight.

Harry laughed as he danced around spells, glad that he was finally able to feel the rush of combat. He slowly grew closer to the Weasleys as he weaved through their attacks until he was only a few feet away. Nearly all of them had been neutralized and those that were left – Molly, surprisingly enough, and the other twin – had begun to try and fight off the aurors.

He walked up behind Molly, motioning for his aurors to stop casting spells, and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around with terror in her eyes, but it quickly shifted to confusion as Harry launched a powerful punch into her face.

The wizard laughed as the portly woman fell to the ground with a broken, bleeding nose. He turned to the last Weasley and did the same thing to him, although the twin attempted to cast the killing curse at him before being knocked down.

"Stun those two and let the others back up. Disarm before using _incarcerous_."

His aurors nodded and quickly performed his commands. Most of the rebels were unfrozen after their wands were taken save for Molly and the twin. When they were bound and staring up at him balefully he simply smiled at them before speaking to his aurors.

"Have five of you investigate the upper floors. There might be more rebels. Same rules."

"Yes sir!" The auror captain said before gathering up four of his aurors and going up the stairs. When they were gone Harry looked around the room. Three more of his aurors aside from the ones outside had been killed, an impressive feat. The wizard took this in before returning his attention to the rebels.

"I must admit that I'm impressed with your handiwork." He said to the bound group. "In fact, I'm so impressed that I'm going to allow you trials instead of killing you right here."

"We would rather die, you filthy bastard!" Ginevra shouted from the floor. Her brown eyes glared up at him, showing all the hatred she could muster.

"That could be arranged." Harry drawled, lazily twirling his wand. "But such a waste of magical blood would be quite the shame. It had become quite scarce as of late."

Inwardly smirking at the heated glares he received from the resistance, Harry continued. "But you see, my fellow witches and wizards, there is a slight problem that I must hold you accountable for. You have fought well, and I admire your courage and stubbornness, but you have committed a grave infraction against my Ministry."

Harry paused for a moment, and his cold green eyes seemed to glow as a brief surge of rage flowed through him.

"You see." He hissed, nearly descending into parseltongue, "Your little group has committed a terrible deed against me. Two people that were once very dear to me were killed on your little raid on St. Mungo's. And unless you tell me who gave you the information that they were there and who led it I plan on torturing each of you to death."

The rebels' faces blanched, but they still didn't answer. Harry was about to make good on his threats and continue his monologue when he felt something very, very dark flash throughout the Burrow. He looked up and saw a killing curse heading straight for him.

Harry instantly dodged, barely getting out of the way before it scorched the ground he had been standing on. He looked up and saw a pair of blue eyes as hard as his own staring at him. The wizard turned to the aurors.

"Take all of them to the Ministry. Kill any that resist. I'll interrogate them later."

The confused aurors nodded their assent and watched carefully as Harry cast off his battle robes. They would just slow him down and wouldn't help him at all against his new prey.

Harry ran over to the stairs and began to hurriedly go up them. He had a chance to avenge the deaths of his trophies, and he would not let her escape. She had overstepped her boundaries for the last time.

Several lethal curses careened towards him as he sprinted up the long flights of stairs, but he easily batted them away and sent his own killing curses up in return. Harry kept an eye out for any more hidden enemies, but nothing attacked him and his spells didn't detect anyone. All he caught was a glimpse of silver hair.

"Get back here, damnit!" He roared as he stormed up the ridiculous amount of stairs. The only response he got was a stunner, which he batted away without even pausing. Harry continued his journey up the stairs and after another flight they abruptly ended, leading into a small room.

Harry was wary as he entered the room. Gabrielle had proved that she was willing to kill him and she had the advantage by knowing the home. She was certainly intelligent enough to create a trap.

He had his wand raised and was more than ready to summon an object to block a curse or dodge. It was that paranoia that saved him. A streak of sickly green light flashed towards him from the corner of the room and he barely managed to summon a small chair in front of him. The killing curse scorched the chair, and Harry wasted no time in responding.

Harry fired several stunners into the corner he knew she was hiding at. He didn't quite want to kill the traitor yet, not when he wanted answers as to why she made herself known to him again.

Another killing curse followed by four stunners shot towards him, but he easily conjured a small slab of stone to block the killing curse while the stunners were easily bat away. A blasting curse in her direction forced her out of hiding.

Gabrielle's disillusionment charm faded thanks to the strong spell that had nearly hit her, and Harry quickly began to attack. The teenager actually managed to fight back, proving that she had become quite skilled since he had last seen her.

She was still easily beaten, but it took him several seconds before her defense was broken. He quickly disarmed her and used _incarcerous_. When she was bound and immobile he walked over to her, summoning a chair from the small desk. Harry left her wand less than a foot away from her in order to taunt her.

"Hello, Gabrielle." He said in a frosty tone. "Doesn't this remind you of one of our meetings? Of course, last time it was me who was bound and defenseless."

"Go to hell." Gabrielle snarled; her blue eyes cold and hard. Harry wondered what had happened to change her so much. Perhaps her family had been hurt by the war. If so he hadn't heard about it.

"Now, now." Harry said calmingly. "What have I done to earn such hatred? You were quite polite at our last meeting. And to use the killing curse. My," he said patronizingly, "how the mighty have fallen."

He watched with amusement as she struggled against the magical ropes, obviously controlled by the desire to kill him.

"Do you want to know why I hate you so much, you bastard!" She screamed in French. Harry just smiled at her again.

"Of course. That's why I asked."

Harry smirked as her face turned red with anger. This was far more amusing than he had expected.

"I hate you because you and your sniveling little followers killed my family and burned Delacour Manor to the ground! If it weren't for you they would still be alive!"

He felt a small twinge of guilt, but didn't quash it. Harry wasn't sure why he felt the guilt, since he had done plenty of things to keep anyone from sending assassins. And why was she so upset with her family dying? When he learned of the Lestranges' true motivation he recovered quite quickly.

Gabrielle laughed a bit before continuing.

"But I got my revenge!" She crowed. "Your bastard father and bitch of a mother died by my hand, you know. You took my entire family, but I took yours in return!"

Harry felt a brief surge of anger as she giggled. He didn't care about the Lestranges, but she had infringed upon his _possessions _and had lowered herself to Bellatrix's level. It seemed that it would be a mercy to kill Gabrielle.

"Do you know what I saw when I killed them?" She whispered excitedly. "I saw that they were broken and pathetic and weak. But you know what?" Gabrielle asked mockingly. "I'm not finished yet."

Harry felt a dawning sense of realization and leveled his wand at her. She had a plan. Just as he began the words to the spell that would end her life, he felt the magic in the room shift. He paused and looked around in confusion.

"What the…" he muttered. He couldn't detect anyone and Gabrielle didn't have a wand. But that could only mean that she was doing the magic wandlessly.

He looked at her in panic and saw that his suspicions were true. She had managed to burn through the thin ropes keeping her bound in the time he had looked around the room and had already grabbed her wand. Harry cursed himself for his arrogance and prepared to kill her. He should have realized that she had a trap ready.

Even as he raised his wand and uttered the words to the killing curse, she had cast her own spell.

"Infernus!" She cried. Harry widened his eyes and tried to apparate away in panic. He couldn't avoid the devouring flames from such a short distance. The wizard groaned as the heavy weight of the anti-apparition wards held him back and tried to find a new way out.

He sprinted out of the room, leaving Gabrielle to die. There was no way he would survive the inferno long enough to take control of it from so close, so he would have to use his own fiendfyre to devour it. Harry couldn't escape, so he had to dominate.

"Infernus!" He roared, leveling his wand at the flaming dragon's head that had followed him out of the room. His own tightly controlled fiendfyre burst out of his wand, roaring and crackling as it twisted towards the other fiendfyre.

Harry weathered the intense heat and roared in victory as his own fiendfyre suddenly surged into Gabrielle's and absorbed it. The wizard quickly extinguished it, aware that such powerful and dark magic had probably completely obliterated the magic holding the Burrow together.

He suddenly became aware that the fiendfyre had ignited the home with ordinary flame. Harry's eyes widened and he felt true fear for the first time in many years as the mundane flames began to spread throughout the home at an unnaturally fast pace.

The wizard moved to extinguish the blaze, but even as he raised his wand the flimsy home began to collapse. Harry was powerless to stop his fall as the burning house fell into pieces around him.

Harry barely managed to raise a shield as he fell with the charred pieces of the Burrow, and silently cursed the Weasleys for making a house that relied on magic to keep it from collapsing. The fiendfyre had completely destroyed the fortifying magic and caused all of this to happen.

Even as he fell, he heard the distinctive sounds of potions exploding. Purple and green flames began to mix in with the ordinary orange flames that had appeared at the base of the tower-like home. For once Harry cursed his magic. It enhanced his reflexes so much that he every second of this torturous fall felt like several seconds. He could easily see the horror that he was about to fall into. Harry doubted his shield would fully protect him from the heat of the charred wood or the long, sharp pieces of the home that angled up at him.

His shield managed to protect him from the worst of the damage as he finally reached the ground, however. It dispersed much of the energy gained from the fall, although several long, burning splinters penetrated his shield and landed in his body.

Harry groaned as the shield began to dissipate and he finally became aware of the injuries he had suffered during the fall. The splinters were causing him horrible pain and the sheer heat of the burning wood was beginning to burn him.

The wizard tried to push himself up, but the heat was beginning to disrupt the magic that kept his hands active. Harry growled and forced himself up, ignoring the pain and his slowly dying hands.

He was aware that he had suffered a vast amount of trauma from the fall and heat, but he didn't care. Harry took slow, steady steps as he navigated the wreckage. His wand nearly fell from his hand as he limped through the charred remains of the Burrow, so he put it into his mouth. He would not lose the wand that made him invincible.

Strange colored smoke from the burnt potions hung heavy in the air, and he coughed and choked as he breathed in the dangerous fumes. The smoke had an oily texture and seemed to cling to the inside of his mouth, but Harry continued to ignore it. He had to escape this place.

He finally collapsed, unable to continue due to the agony and trauma. The heat seemed to be dissipating, meaning that whatever magical flame it was had been extinguished. Harry finally felt the horrible burns, however, and grit his teeth to keep from screaming.

The wood he had collapsed upon was still extremely hot and continued to destroy the magic that held his hands together. Harry grimaced as the silvery magic seemingly began to melt off, leaving him much more helpless than usual.

Harry could see black on the edges of his vision and dimly realized that he was dying. He growled and continued crawling through the wreckage, ignoring the horrific burns that marred his form. They could be easily healed once he escaped this death trap, and his hands would easily be repairable.

After what felt like hours of agonizing travel, his body began to fail him. Smoke filled and hung to his lungs, and he collapsed and rolled down the small pile of wreckage he had been on. He screamed as his body was subjected to the torture of being burnt further and felt the hot wood roughly scrape his sensitive burns.

Harry closed his eyes and breathed heavily in an attempt to clear the pain away. He tried to get up again, but found that he could only push himself up enough so that he wouldn't be completely on the wreckage.

But his bleary, burning vision identified a fallen body next to his own. He blinked for a moment to clear his vision before realizing it was Gabrielle.

Her formerly flawless features were covered with soot and various burns and wounds. She wasn't dead and even seemed to be conscious, but she was closer to death than he was. And he was right on the threshold of succumbing to his horrific injuries.

"I guess you got your vengeance." He coughed out, wincing in pain as he used his raw throat. "My men might not be able to get back in time for me."

She smiled at him in response, and he saw a hint of the girl he had once saved from Bellatrix. For some reason that he couldn't comprehend, she was _happy_. Harry frowned at her, but hissed as the burns and cuts erupted in agony.

"You…You've reaped what you've sown." Gabrielle choked out. She smiled one last time before she closed her eyes. Harry felt a bit of sadness, but he was confused.

How could she be happy she was dying? Death was the end. He hadn't come so far and done so many great things to die in a fire, not when he was so close to succeeding and fulfilling every wish he had.

Harry grimaced as he collapsed again, his burnt and torn body too badly injured to support itself. He could feel his magic slowly weakening and leaving him, and he realized that not even he could survive this.

He was bitter as he thought of Gabrielle. After everything he had done for her, why would she kill him? Harry had never done anything to hurt her. The dying wizard grit his teeth as he forced his body to roll over and look at Gabrielle one last time.

Her eyes were still open and he could see the familiar, clear blue. Harry felt his bitterness melt into regret. Regret for being so foolish as to leave her alive just so he could keep some vaguely defined meaning of _humanity_. He didn't regret anything that he'd done, not when it had led to him becoming great.

This wasn't fair, the childish part of him cried. He internally snarled at the universe for just killing him like this. He had done everything to make himself the greatest he could possibly be, and then the one good thing he had done turned around and killed him? _That wasn't fair._

Why couldn't the foolish girl have just listened…

Harry felt the blackness beginning to overwhelm his vision. Just before his eyes closed he saw a dark shadow twirling their wand at the edge of his vision. As he closed his eyes and let blackness overcome him, he heard the familiar shouts of his aurors.

Just before the blackness wiped him away, he felt gloved hands grab him and soothing magic wash over his body.

At least he had proved Apolline Delacour right. He was great.

A/M: And that's how it ends. Make your own decisions on whether he died or was saved by the aurors. Remember to review and PM me if you have questions.


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